All is fair in love and war
by atotalRPGfan
Summary: Princess Celeste had no idea what to expect when Walter pulled her into the Revolution. She certainly didn't expect that he would convince her to dress as a boy now and again to protect her from her brother's followers. Balancing a second persona with trying to convince allies to join her cause and dealing with the world outside of the castle is sure to be an adventure in itself.AU
1. Chapter 1: I'll make a man out of you

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Fable or the characters contained in this universe. **  
_

_**Warning: AU with spoilers ahead  
**_

_Chapter 1: I'll make a man out of you  
_

"Walter…How can you possibly think that this is a good idea?" Princess Celeste eyed her gruff old mentor warily, disbelief clearly written on her face. She, Walter and Jasper were all standing in the Sanctuary as they discussed Walter's latest idea to hide the Princess's identity. "This is absolutely insane!"

"It worked with the mercenaries, at least until they realised that you weren't Jimmy," Walter argued. "This way the chances of Logan and his men finding you and dragging you back to the castle are lowered dramatically."

Celeste sighed in exasperated and turned to look at Jasper. "Jasper, do you agree with Walter?"

"As much as I'm appalled by the idea of our young princess cross-dressing for the foreseeable future, I see Walter's point," the butler replied slowly.

"Celeste, the entirety of king's men is looking for you. We only have so many places that we can hide you before they find us," Walter continued. "Of course, I still want you to lead this revolution during all of this and this way, you'll be safe."

"How is anyone going to follow the princess if they haven't even seen her?" Jasper argued.

"Jasper's right. I doubt that anyone will join our cause if they don't know who I really am," Celeste added.

Walter seemed to consider this for a moment before his face lit up with an idea. "We tell everyone that the princess is hiding for her own safety, but is still heading the revolution. We'll reveal you to the people we're trying to convince once in a while to prove that you're really a part of everything and for the rest of the time, you'll wear your disguise as you help the people."

Celeste, for her part, still wasn't convinced. "I still think is a stupid idea. How am I even going to pass as a man?!"

She regretted her words immediately as she felt Jasper's gaze on her as he studied her intently. "Highness, if we have to be completely honest, you do have a certain…boyish…figure. You're quite thin and slightly shorter than the other ladies of the court, your hips are more narrow than usual for a woman of your age and your bosom is not particularly voluptuous. In truth, if you had short hair, maybe some facial hair…you could pass for a boy quite easily," he said finally.

"Jasper!" she cried in disbelief and embarrassment as she crossed her arms in sudden self-awareness. Even at two-and-twenty, she was aware that she lacked the curvaceous figures and full bosoms of the other ladies of the court that men so seemed to desire and she was quite self-conscious about it without having her butler point it out.

"I'm just being truthful, Highness. Besides, I know that many find your boyish figure appealing in some ways, including your Elliot," Jasper suddenly placated.

She heaved another sigh of desperation. "Very well, enough about my boyish figure…Let's say that I agree to your spiel…Who am I going to pose as? Who will follow a boy barely out of swaddling clothes, who would be the only person that I can pose as, who hasn't even proved himself in battle? I don't even know how to fire a rifle properly for goodness sake!"

"You'll pose as my long-lost son that was sent away to Samarkand to train as a scholar. You're love books enough and you're smart enough to play that role. As for the rifles, we'll deal with that later, Celeste."

"Walter, you are being truly and completely insane…but you have to agree to a few terms as well. I'll wear the disguise when out in the open, but as soon as I go out alone to do something for someone, I'll dress normally. And at the first sign of this failing, I go back to dressing as a woman," she conceded finally, dropping her head into her hands. "I can't believe I've agreed to this."

Walter looked absolutely delighted at her acceptance and immediately started rambling about the things that they would have to do before leaving for the monorail. "First, we'll need to cut and dye your hair."

"No! There is no way!" she cried, clutching her long braid of hair. She'd been growing her dark red hair out and it was one of the things that she loved most about herself. To cut it…The mere idea was appalling! "I'll wear a wig," she suggested.

His weathered face looked confused at her breakdown. "It's just hair, Celeste. You'll grow it again and dye it back."

"It's not just hair, Walter! It is so much more than that!" she argued. "Long hair is a symbol of a well-cared for and groomed lady." Jasper had nodded in agreement with everything she'd said up to that point and looked about ready to fight with Walter if he disagreed further.

It was Walter's turn to sigh with defeat. "Very well. But you have to at least cut it so that it reaches your shoulders. You'll wear a wig…And a beard," he bartered.

She considered this for a moment. It would still be shorter, but it wouldn't be as bad as cutting it in a boy's style. "Fine. And I'll agree to a small amount of facial hair."

"What about clothes? Aside from the mercenary outfit, her Highness only has female clothes, as is appropriate," Jasper remarked, his tone suggesting that he was not at all satisfied with the idea.

"I'll go to the Brightwall tailor later today." As they started to discuss what she would need to complete her transformation into a man, Celeste couldn't help but wonder how she managed to get roped into her current situation.

"Alright, Celeste. Sit down so that Jasper can cut your hair," Walter said after they finished their conversation.

Suddenly, she felt very apprehensive about what was about to happen. "Walter, maybe this isn't-"

"Nonsense, Princess. Now sit down," he said more gruffly and led her firmly to the dressing room. "Jasper, bring a pair of scissors."

Celeste sat down onto one of the stools, her heart pounding in her chest. She hadn't so much as touched her hair with a pair of scissors to do more than snip the ends since her mother died more than ten years ago. It was her way of paying homage to the old Hero Queen whose mass of flaming red curls had been one of her most iconic features.

She could sense Jasper's hesitation as well as he lifted the first strand. "I'm sorry, Highness," he whispered almost mournfully as he snipped her hair. It wasn't until he had cut half of her hair that she realised the gravity of what was happening. An involuntary tear ran down her cheek as another strand fluttered to the ground and she sniffled ever so slightly.

"Celeste, it's just hair," Walter said, his expression one of confusion mixed with concern. "It's no need to cry!"

"I'm…sorry," she managed, drying her eyes. "I…know it's…silly." Apollo, her border collie, came to rest at her feet and placed his muzzle on her knees. He whined softly as he looked up at her, clearly confused as to why his mistress was in tears.

Finally, the last few pieces were cut. Jasper sighed heavily as he went to put the scissors away and Celeste hesitantly went over to the mirror. Her head felt significantly lighter, but she couldn't help but feel that the look didn't suit her.

"It looks good," Walter said weakly behind her. Apollo gave a sharp bark at him and came to stand protectively by her side. She smiled at his reaction and petted his furry head.

"Now even the dog is cross," she heard Walter mutter and she felt an involuntary bout of laughter bubble up in her throat at the absurdity of the situation and what she was about to do.

"Come on, Walter. Let's go make a man out of me," she giggled as she headed back to the map room.

oOoOoOo

"So remember, Celeste, you're Thomas, your mother took you to Samarkand, without me knowing that she was pregnant, where you lived with the monks to learn more about their literature and such. You found out about me-"

"I got it, Walter," she interrupted as she scratched absentmindedly at the light-brown mop that she was wearing as a wig. "But one question…Isn't there anyone who knows you well enough to find this whole story implausible?"

"Well, there probably is one, but if he starts to suspect something, I'll tell him."

"This is still a horribly ill thought-out plan," she muttered as they entered the monorail station to travel to Millfields. "Why are you so insistent about this, Walter? Just out of curiosity."

"I love you as a daughter, Celeste. I want to keep you safe," he said simply, his gaze traveling around the rather crowded station.

She couldn't help but feel a surge of comforting warmth at his words. "I love you too, Walter," she said warmly, but before she could get too emotional, Walter interrupted her quickly.

"Remember, _Thomas_, you're supposed to act like a man. No hugs," he said strictly, but his eyes shone with a silent pride.

"Right. No hugs," she nodded, smiling brightly in reply. She gazed around the station for herself. "So, Walter, you have no qualms about getting into one of those cars? Will you be able to handle it with your claustrophobia?"

His voice broke slightly when he spoke next. "How bad can it be?" As soon as the words left his lips, a flaming tram hurtled into view and the sounds of the screaming passengers echoed throughout the cave. They watched in horror as the tram suddenly started rocking before it dropped into the dark abyss below.

Everyone on the platform started crying out in terror as they ran out of the station as quickly as they could. Through all the chaos, Celeste started in the direction of the elevators. "There might be survivors!" she called over her shoulder, promptly forgetting that she was supposed to be lowering her voice. Luckily no one noticed.

Apollo and Walter were quick to follow on her heels. While they waited for the elevator to lower them into the deeper reaches of the cave, Celeste couldn't help but take a jab at Walter. "How bad can it be?" she asked as she quirked her eyebrow in amusement.

"Did you see that flaming mess as a possible outcome?" he replied gruffly. "I'm just glad we didn't get into one of those things and I never will after witnessing that."

Her amusement turned into concern for the people who were in the monorail tram. "Do you think they're still…alive?"

Walter's expression deepened into a serious frown. "I honestly can't say, Celeste. All we can do is hope for the best."

Finally, the elevator door opened and they hurried deeper into the cave. To her horror, the tram was already engulfed in flames by the time that they reached it and it was overrun with rotund, filthy creatures.

"Hobbes. Be careful. Celeste," Walter warned her as they hid in the shadows and waited for a chance to attack them.

"**Those** are Hobbes? The illustrations in the books I've read made them seem less…repulsive," she whispered in reply, wrinkling her nose in disgust at their vile smell wafting towards her.

Walter harrumphed loudly at her words. "Clearly done by scholars who have never seen them themselves. Now, they're pretty simple beings, but don't let them overwhelm you."

Celeste couldn't help but feel a twitter of nervousness as she unsheathed her sword. She was still very new to combat and she had to take a deep breathe to steel her nerves before lunging out of cover to attack.

Luckily, they proved to be easy enough to defeat despite their rather fierce appearance. After a second glance and a few stabs later, Celeste thought them quite comical.

"What are those things, Walter? I know the stories that they kidnap children and turn them, but what are they really?" she asked after a while of wandering through the tunnels.

"Well, honestly, I don't know. I don't think that anyone really knows. Maybe you should ask Samuel when we get back to Brightwall," he replied. "And pay attention to your voice, Celeste. You're not deepening it enough."

"But it's just you and me down here." Apollo gave a loud bark at her voice and she gave his ears an affectionate pat as she giggled. "And Apollo, of course."

"Avoid giggling. It's too womanly," Walter continued. "As for it being only us down here, I want you to practice."

"Anything else that I'm doing wrong?" Celeste asked as she scratched at the slightly itchy stick-on beard.

"I'll be sure to tell you when you do something wrong." The continued on in silence, pausing only to kill a few hobbes now and again.

"Remind me why we're heading into Mourningwood again?" she asked when they neared the entrance of the marsh. She was covered with Hobbe blood and their putrid stench that permeated the cave refused to leave her nostrils.

"We have to get to Bowerstone. Besides, good friends of mine is posted at the fort and I don't want to go into a fight without them at my back. I have to warn you, the fort is filled with men, so you'll have to be careful about keeping them from finding out who you really are."

"Won't it just be easier to show up as the princess?" she moaned, running her fingers through her short hair.

Walter fixed her with a stern gaze as they took a short break. "Celeste, we've been over this. Just pay attention to what you're doing and you'll do fine."

Apollo nudged her leg and looked up at her with a strange expression. She sighed and knelt down to look her dog in the eye.

"What is it, boy?" she whispered, ruffling his ears. He placed his paws on her knee and pressed his nose against her hair, whining again. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Walter rolling his eyes and she couldn't help but smile. "It's still me, boy." She turned her attention back to her mentor who was taking a sip from his water skin. "Speaking of whom…You know Apollo won't leave my side. How can he be Thomas and Celeste's dog?"

"He can be mine, but let's go with the story that he's not too crazy about me," he added as an afterthought when Apollo barked sharply at him.

"Yes, that's perfectly believable," she mumbled when they finally exited the cave, Celeste took a grateful gulp of semi-clean air. The swamp smelled of damp sunlight and rotting wood, but it was better than the rancid stench of the Hobbes in the cave.

After a few more dead hobbes and more murky water than she ever wanted to see in her lifetime, they approached a rather large stone structure.

"Mourningwood Fort, I presume?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. The fort looked sturdy enough, but from the scorch marks and the few crumbling stones, it was clear that it had seen plenty of battles.

Walter looked concerned as he took in the battlements. "It looks worse than I thought. They've been stationed here for far too long. Let us go see how we can help."

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun," she muttered sarcastically as they headed to the huge wooden door.

oOoOoOo

_AN: It feels like forever since I last posted anything and I **finally** got around to writing again! This has easily been the craziest year of my life._

_I've had this idea for a while now and I'm excited to see where I'll end up. As you can probably guess from the title of this chapter, this story is inspired by Mulan, one of my all-time favourite films. I also got a few ideas after watching Shakespeare in the Love (for about the sixth time!), She's the Man and reading the Twelfth Night. Fair warning, this is going to be another long story as I have too many ideas just for a few chapters. I'm also not going to give away any pairings. You'll just have to wait and see!_

_I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please let me know what you think!_


	2. Chapter 2 : Introductions

___Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it_

_Chapter 2: Introductions_

"Hold it! Be you men or Hollow Men?" Tim called from the top of the guard tower.

Ben had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the man "guarding" the door as he looked over his cards at the men sitting around the barrel they were using as a poker table. Did Tim really think that a Hollow Man would waste one minute to stop before killing him? Or have the ability to answer that question for that matter?

"Hey, Swiftie, I think we need to give Tim a break," Ben said to his tall, moustachioed commanding officer next to him as he tossed two of his flintlock pistol bullets onto the heap in front of him. "He's becoming slightly…insane. Peter, I see your…old top hat…why do you even have that...and raise you two bullets."

Major Swift folded his hand of cards and got to his feet. "I'm going to go see who it is. We get few enough visitors out here."

Ben gave small nod as he concentrated on the game being played. He was beating the other men, as usual, but he didn't want to miss one of them attempting to cheat. Again.

He was barely aware of the gate opening, but when Swiftie's deep laugh drifted from across the courtyard, he had to see what was causing their commanding officer to laugh so jovially.

"Full house. I win," he said smugly as he placed his cards on the table and pocketed his winnings. Riley, Trevor and Fred grumbled loudly as the pushed the heap of assorted junk towards him and Ben already knew that he was going to give most of it back to them later. For example, what would he do with Fred's old bootlaces?

_Guess that's the problem with being stationed in the middle of nowhere for more than three months,_ he thought to himself as he wandered over to the two newcomers.

He recognised one of them as Sir Walter Beck, a legend of the Albion army and one of the few men that he could consider a friend. The other man, or rather, boy, looked barely old enough to shave and Ben had to stop from scoffing at the oversized mercenary clothes that he was wearing. As if anyone would buy that disguise.

"Are you here to preposition us, Wally? And here I thought you were here to save us from the legion of the damned," Ben quipped as he approached them.

"Ben! It's good to see you again, you lucky bugger," Walter replied joyfully as he clapped him on the back. "Still bugging Swiftie are you?"

"He hasn't gotten rid of me yet." Ben turned his gaze to the boy who was trying to hide behind Walter. He was short, so Ben had more than a few centimetres on him and his skin was so pale that Ben doubted that he'd seen much of the sun. He was also very skinny and had a mop of light-brown hair that was in desperate need of a cut. A rather impressive goatee adorned his face and he had dark blue, almost black, eyes.

Ben wondered why this little boy was in Mourningwood, but he wasn't particularly interested. At least he could act as cannon fodder if push came to shove.

"Who's your companion, Walter?" Swiftie asked after a while of greetings.

"Oh, this is Thomas." Walter took a step to the side to reveal the scrawny boy, who shot them a small, shy smile. "He's…my son."

"Your son?" Major Swift's eyebrows almost rose into his streaked fringe as he regarded the boy curiously and Ben couldn't help but do the same.

"You got a woman pregnant, Wally? I didn't know you had it in you," Ben joked as he tried to lighten the situation. In truth, he didn't see the resemblance between them at all. _Maybe someone's lying to you, Wally,_ he thought, biting back a laugh.

"Shut up, Ben. Thomas, these are my old friends, Major Swift and Captain Benjamin Finn. The latter is a bit of an idiot, but Swiftie's the bravest man I've ever met," Walter said to Thomas. "These are the men that I wanted you to meet."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Major Swift. My father has told me so much about you," he said and gave Swiftie a firm handshake before turning towards Ben. "You as well, Captain Finn."

"Thomas here is ready to do any type of job that you want him to do, but first I have some things to tell you, Swift."

Swift still looked slightly shell-shocked, but nodded. "Yes. Ben, go show Thomas around. Thomas, can you fight?"

"Yes, sir, but I still have much to learn," Thomas said humbly.

"If you're anything like Walter, you'll catch on quick enough." Swift gave them a dismissive wave and Ben nodded at Thomas for him to follow him.

"Over here we have the food pot, the fire, the box on which we play poker and such, George playing his rather false lute and, of course, the infirmary and graveyard," Ben said curtly and pointed to each in turn. "We bathe in the lake and be careful not to wander around after dark. That's when the Hollow Men come out. Any other questions, feel free to ask me."

Thomas looked confused, but nodded regardless. "Now, do you want to join us for a quick game of poker? We bet anything that you might have of value. It's all that we can afford," Ben continued.

"Sure." Thomas followed him to where the others were seated. "Hello. I'm Thomas," the boy said courteously before sitting down.

"Hey, Tom. I'm Fred, this is Riley and this is Trevor," the short dark-haired man said and pointed to the others in turn. "You've met Ben. Watch out for the bugger. He cheats."

"I do not cheat. **You** cheat," Ben countered and plopped down himself. "And yet you still lose. Speaking of which, do you have anything of value to offer me? Last time I checked, I cleaned you out."

"Laugh it up, Ben. Besides, Tom here might just clean you out for once," Riley said and started dealing the cards.

Ben regarded his hand with a smile, trying to misguide the others around him. In truth, he was holding a rather poor set of cards.

"Umm…I have a question," Thomas asked, looking confused. "How do you decide if something is valuable?"

"Well, anything, frankly. If the rest of us find it inappropriate , we'll tell you," Trevor replied gruffly.

"I have another question…How does this game work again?"

All of them looked at the newcomer in surprise. "You don't know how to play?" Riley asked, disbelief riddling his tone.

"The monks in Samarkand didn't exactly smile upon gambling," he explained, a strange smile on his face. "But I'm a quick study."

Ben quickly explained the rules again and sure enough Thomas gave a nod when he finished.

"Alright, I understand. Do you mind if I start?"

"Sure, go ahead." Ben bit back a chuckle as he watched Thomas place a rather worn, yet expensive-looking pocket watch in the centre. He'd be sure to give the poor boy his treasure back when he won.

All of them placed their bets, which were rather sizable considering Ben had been winning for the past few hours. It seemed that every one of them was confident that they could beat the new kid.

"Firstly, I'd like to point out that you three have been holding out on me for the whole day. But anyway, let's show our hands," Ben muttered. Despite having a poor hand, Ben wasn't one to fold, so he'd settled for betting the new chapters of his autobiography that Private Derek had so thoughtfully proofread for him. If anything, the rest of the fort had already read it or heard it, so it wouldn't be a huge loss.

"One pair," Riley said smugly and placed his cards on the barrel.

"Two pairs," Fred countered.

Trevor merely grumbled and placed his cards face-up on the table and Ben followed suit.

"So, Tom? What do you have?' Fred asked, already moving to pocket the winnings.

Thomas looked at his cards one more time before setting them on the table and looking at the others expectantly.

"You have a straight flush? On your first try?" Ben stared in disbelief at the cards on the makeshift table.

"I guess I win," Thomas said and dragged the winnings towards him. The others just watched in wonder as Thomas sorted through the heap of stuff. "_The Life and Adventures of Ben Finn_?" he asked, holding up the yellow pages. "Did you write this, Captain?"

"Please call me Ben or Finn if you have to, and yes, that's mine. But you don't have to read it-" He reached for the papers, but Thomas yanked them out of reach.

"Oh no you don't. Ben. I won this fair and square," he said and a strange smile played on his lips as he regarded the pages curiously again. "This better be interesting. I haven't had a good read in a long time."

"Well, tell me what you think when you're done. Now, let's see if I can win something again today."

oOoOoOo

"Is that…Is that really Celeste?" Swift asked as he and Walter sat down in his tent. "She…looks so much older than I remember."

"Well, Swift, the last time you saw her was almost twelve years ago…At Raina's funeral in fact. She's grown up a lot since then," Walter replied and he looked at his friend with sympathy in his eyes.

"She's…beautiful," Swift muttered as he stared at an invisible spot on the wall. "She looks just like Raina…Her eyes…I never thought I'd see those eyes again."

_Rain beat against the large windows of the royal bedchamber. The queen's family had finally left the room and Swift was allowed a moment to sneak in and say his goodbyes. Albion's monarch's now dull red hair was splayed across the pillow, her usually tanned skin a sickly-grey colour._

"_My sweet soldier," she whispered and grasped his hand weakly. "I'm sorry that I couldn't have given you what you deserve. You deserve to be happy with your family, not forced to live a false life."_

"_My queen…" Swift choked back a sob and gave her hand a slight squeeze. "As long as Celeste is happy…I'll happily take a step back."_

"_I'm sorry," the queen managed, her breath shortening._

"_Raina? Are you alright?" he asked, his eyes mixed with concern and confusion. He called out into the hallway for the physician._

_Raina succumbed to out a huge coughing fit, droplets of blood spraying the white comforter. "Please," she wheezed. "Don't…don't let…them…see me…like this." The light in her midnight eyes was slowly growing dimmer and dimmer and he could see that the end was near._

_Her last words barely mattered. Before the physician even reached the room, Albion had already lost her queen._

However, he did see those eyes one more time. It was on a dreary, cloudy day more than a decade ago. Swift, then Lieutenant Swift, had watched with unshed tears as they carried the coffin of Albion's former ruler and the woman that he loved into the huge stone tomb. Celeste had barely been ten years old and tears were streaming from her luminous blue eyes as she said good-bye to her mother. Nineteen-year-old Logan was standing next to her with his arm around her tiny shoulders, his face a mask of indifference.

"George forbade me from setting foot on the castle grounds after that day. I think he knew that she wasn't his…I think he always knew," Swift sighed.

"Are you going to tell her?" Walter asked slowly. "That-"

"No!" A sad smile spread over his lips. "No…I can't do that to her. I can't tell a girl, no, **woman**, of her age that the man that she thought was her father wasn't. As far as I knew, she loved him. Like Raina did."

Walter scoffed loudly at this. "Raina despised George, Swift. You know that as well as I do. In the last years of their marriage, they barely tolerated each other."

"But he was a good father to Celeste and Logan and the people liked him well enough. That much was clear."

"I…don't know what to say." Walter continued to look at him with pitying eyes and Swift smiled at him sadly.

"I don't want to dwell in the past. Rather tell me this…Why is she currently posing as a boy named Thomas?" he asked as he lit his pipe.

"Honestly? I'm afraid of Logan finding her. Sabine sent word that a few of his men came looking for him soon after we left. It's only a matter of time until they find her."

"I don't think the men will notice if she's careful…but still. It sounds like a bad idea," Swift admitted.

Walter chuckled loudly. "Now you sound like her. She's not too keen on the idea herself. But I convinced her when I told her that she'll have to make an appearance as herself a few times."

"And how are you going to stop people from noticing that "Thomas" is missing when Celeste shows up?"

"We'll figure it out," Walter said with a flippant wave.

Swift peered out through the tent flap. "Well, she seems to be getting along with the men well enough," he said with a small smile. He still couldn't believe that his daughter was within walking distance. Even though she was wearing a wig that he knew hid dark red hair and a set of false facial hair, there was no mistaking the gentle smile, awkward shyness and sparkling deep blue eyes that she shared with her late mother.

Walter, being the good friend that he was, took it upon himself to cheer the old major up. "How's Ben doing? He seems to be as irritating as usual."

Swift smiled in spite of his dark mood. "As happy as ever. He's grown up a lot since you last saw him. Cut back on his drinking and everything."

Walter, for his part, looked unconvinced. "Has he stopped chasing every skirt he meets?"

"I haven't caught him on any rooftops without a stitch of clothing in a while."

"That doesn't mean that he stopped," Walter grumbled. "He'd better not try anything."

"In his defence, she's not wearing a skirt," Swift chuckled. "But don't worry too much, Wally. I'll make sure he stays in line."

Another loud scoffing noise sounded from the gruff man. "As if anyone could control that boy…But I guess that he is good soldier."

"Speaking of which…Tell me, Walter, what are your plans for this revolution?"

oOoOoOo

_AN: Many of you probably guessed that the pairing of this story is going to be Princess/Ben. All though I love me some Ben Finn/Princess, I actually do have something else in mind for this story (at least up until where I've worked out the story in my head) and I'm not going to give it away just yet. The reason I tagged Ben was because he's going to have a rather large part to play in this tale (if it wasn't obvious already)_


	3. Chapter 3: Deja Vu

_AN: A heartfelt thank you to everyone who's read, followed, favourite or reviewed so far. I truly appreciate it!_

___Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it_

_Chapter 3: Déjà vu_

"You, Thomas, have the most incredible luck that I've ever seen," Ben grumbled as he pushed the next heap of winnings towards Thomas.

"Thomas" smiled happily as she regarded the trinkets in front of her. "Well, beginner's luck or not, I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. Feel free to keep on playing."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm broke," Riley sighed and leaned back into his chair. "You even took my last pair of clean long-johns."

"About those…" Celeste gingerly took the object of clothing in question between two fingers and tossed it back to its owner. "You can have them back."

"You'll be sorry come tonight's chill…"

"I'll manage. Please. Take them," she said, wrinkling her nose. She wasn't completely sure about the whole "clean" thing.

"Well, thank you," Riley said with a tip of his tall hat. "I was lying about it being my last clean pair."

"Any one of us could have told you that. Thomas was just being polite," Ben said as he stacked the cards. "Weren't you, Tom?"

Celeste almost blushed at the Captain's smile, but remembered to control herself just in time. In her defence, she couldn't help but notice that Benjamin Finn was a very handsome man with a carelessly styled mop of golden hair, sparkling cerulean eyes and a smirk that would melt the knees of any woman.

But then again, from the afternoon that they'd spent together, she'd surmise that he was an experienced ladies' man and quite arrogant. He was clearly not the type that a young, naive princess would be able to handle.

_Let's just concentrate on not blowing your cover for now, alright, Princess?_ she told herself sternly.

"So, when you're not taking each other's possessions, what else do you do around here?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Well, the Hollow Men are quite fond of this place. They're always good for a few hours of good, solid entertainment," Trevor said dryly. "Of course, that's only if you find dying or mutilation pleasurable."

"Don't scare the poor boy, Trevor. Just keep your wits about you and you'll do fine," Ben said encouragingly. "It's not like you're completely useless with a sword, right?"

"No, I don't think so," Celeste managed, swallowing with difficulty. She'd read the myths about Hollow Men and after her sobering encounter with the Hobbes in the cave, she couldn't help but be frightened at the prospect of facing those things for real, especially if they are worse than what she read about. "Are they really that horrible?"

"They'd cut you in two without even breaking a sweat and go on to mutilate the next thing in its way," Fred said, his attention not deviating from the piece of paper in front of him. "We lost Lieutenant Simmons last night to a rather savage blow to the gut that I didn't even think was possible. His insides were everywhere, including the Hollow Man and the damn skeleton just kept on shambling over to the rest of his damned comrades. Medic damn near well fainted."

"I did not!" Riley cried fiercely, but Fred merely raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

"Sure. Point is, don't wish for nightfall to come in this wretched place. You might find yourself joining their legion before you realise it."

Celeste could literally feel the blood leave her face and her stomach rolled involuntarily. In her fit of horror at the situation that she'd gotten herself into, she barely caught Ben's eyes clouding over with concern.

"Hey, you're exaggerating. And that's coming from me," he said lightly. "Let's go get you something to eat before you faint. When was the last time you ate?"

The mere thought of food sent her stomach rolling again, but she got to her feet nonetheless. "A while," she admitted quietly.

Ben got to his feet and dusted uselessly at his stained uniform. "Then let us be off. The three of you, check our ammunition stores. I don't want sunset to come, only to realise that our gunpowder is still locked in the crates."

The other men grumbled, but they also got off of their make-shift chairs and wandered off to what she presumed was their armory.

"Don't pay them too much mind, Tom. The Hollow Men aren't something to take lightly, but if you don't act stupid, you'll come out on the other side," he said after a while of silence.

"I haven't seen a lot of combat," she admitted, avoiding his piercing gaze. "At most, I had sparring matches with Walter. There were also a few Hobbes and such, but nothing to the scale of legions of the damned."

"Funny thing, that. I never thought Wally would have a child," Ben said thoughtfully. "At least not one as skinny as you. No offence."

She couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, I got that from Mother's side. At least I'm not as short as she was."

Ben started to reply, but a gruff call from across the yard cut him off.

"Thomas? Could you come over here?" Walter stood cross-armed in front of what she assumed was the commander's tent.

"Be right there!" She turned back to Ben. "I'll see you later, Captain. Thank you for your hospitality."

"We'll all sink to the level of those stupid Hobbes if we let our civility escape us, even if we are here in the middle of nowhere," he said with a chuckle. "Don't wander where you shouldn't, alright?"

She nodded quickly before heading over to Walter.

"Major Swift would like to have a word with you," Walter said as she approached the rather worn canvas tent.

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know. Just get in there and find out," Walter said gruffly. "When you're done, meet me out front. I think it's best that you be Celeste tonight if the Hollow Men should attack."

Celeste hesitantly lifted the tent flap and peered inside. The tall, thin major was sitting on the chair at the desk covered with various maps and parchment. The tent smelled like peppermint pipe smoke, something that she found extremely comforting. For some reason, the smell reminded her of a long time ago, which confused her. As far as she could remember, no one in her family had ever smoked a pipe.

"Major Swift? You asked to see me?". She took a step into the canvassed structure and allowed the flap to close behind her.

The major looked up at her and she saw something that she couldn't quite name in his dark eyes before his lips curled into a welcoming smile. "Come in! Please, make yourself comfortable!" He motioned to an empty crate with these words. "I know there is not a lot of space, but we'll manage."

She plopped down onto the crate and looked at him expectantly. She had no idea why the mayor wanted to see her and she was curious to find out.

"I'd offer you some tea, but all we have left is water and ale," he said apologetically.

"That's alright, sir. If I may, why did you want to see me?"

He sat down on the chair and turned to face her. "Firstly, let me say that you can stop pretending, Celeste. I know."

She could have fainted with relief. "Oh, thank goodness! My throat is so sore from talking like that the whole time," she said in her normal voice and yanked off the facial hair. "And those whiskers itch something terrible! As impressive as your moustache is, sir, I have to say that I'm even more impressed by the fact that you can manage to stand it. And this wig..." When she registered what she'd said, she quickly clapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry! You don't want to hear about the out of turn complaints from a princess. Please, forgive me, sir."

The smile on the major's face grew even wider. "Don't fret, my dear. It's refreshing to see a young lady be so candid."

"My father would have scolded me for talking like that," she admitted, avoiding his gaze.

When she looked up at him, there was a flash of what seemed to be anger in his eyes before it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"Well, my dear, how are you finding things?" Major Swift said as he took a deep pull from his pipe.

"Nothing to complain about, sir. The men have been very accommodating."

"You're probably wondering why I asked to see you. Well, I just wanted to tell you myself that you have the full support of the Swift Brigade, come what may. I would appreciate it if you stayed a few days longer to get the men comfortable with the idea, but if you want to leave, that's your prerogative."

"Of course I'll stay, sir, that won't be a problem. However, if I may, I'd like to ask you something," she said carefully and the major nodded. "Is there any chance that I could get some training in firearms? I am, in all honesty, completely hopeless."

An amused smile split over the major's face. "I'll get Ben to show you a few tricks. He's the best shot around here."

"Thank you, sir, I appreciate it." A glance at the crack in the tent flap revealed an orange tinged sky and she suddenly remembered the Hollow Men. "One more question, sir, if I may?"

"Please, my dear, ask me anything that you want to."

"Those stories about the Hollow Men…How true are they?"

He twirled his moustache thoughtfully. "That depends on who you ask. I assume the men already gave you their impression? Nothing I can say can prepare you, Celeste, but I'm sure you'll be able handle it. As Walter tells it, you are a Hero after all."

She swallowed audibly as she got to her feet and headed to the opening. "I'd better get ready then. Thank you for your time, sir." Just before she exited, she remembered to put her facial hair back on.

"Celeste." She turned towards the major, her gaze expectant. "I…Please be careful," he said slowly. His eyes, however, clearly said that he'd wanted to say something else.

"The same to you, Major," she said with a smile.

oOoOoOo

"How do you know no one will notice "Thomas" isn't around," Celeste asked as she ran her fingers through her hair to remove the tangles left behind from the wig. She'd changed into a practical linen blouse and soft faun leggings with a light blue skirt and brown corset. Her considerably shorter hair was tied back loosely and she slipped on a pair of sturdy boots.

"I doubt anyone will notice it," Walter said flippantly.

"You know, you're going to stop answering with that answer eventually, Walter. How do I look?" she asked with a sigh as she pinned back the last stray strand of hair.

"Decidedly female," he chuckled. "As for my answer, just dazzle them with them with your stunning personality and they won't notice that Thomas isn't around."

She couldn't stop the smile that spread over her lips. "I wish that I had your optimism."

"Let's go "introduce" you to the men," Walter chuckled and started towards the fort.

oOoOoOo

"Oi! We have **another** visitor, Finney!" Riley called enthusiastically from the battlement.

Ben looked up from cleaning his rifle to the redhead in slight annoyance. "Aren't we popular today," he muttered as he got to his feet. They hadn't seen anyone else in months and here visitors were springing up left and right. "Is it another scrawny boy?" he called back to the medic.

"Nah! Looks like a broad this time!"

_What?_ This he had to see. Swiftie was already speaking to Walter and whoever he'd dragged along this time so he wandered over to them. He was slightly annoyed with the whole sense of déjà vu of their conversation, so he took to studying their visitor.

She was a tiny, willowy thing without the particularly voluptuous figure that he was usually attracted to. With her sparkling midnight eyes, her bow-shaped mouth and a smatter of freckles over her pale skin, her face was attractive enough. However, Ben's approach to woman usually involved choosing women who have more attractive bodies than faces since the latter could be obscured by bad lighting.

_Though I might reconsider seeing as I haven't been with a woman in about six months,_ he thought dryly as he studied her again. _If it gets much worse, she'll do, I suppose._

His thoughts were interrupted by Major Swift. "Ben, this is Princess Celeste."

_Alright, she won't do, _he thought quickly. "Captain Benjamin Finn at your service, Princess."

It was quite a surprise to find out that the girl in front of him was the princess. The former king had hidden her away from any prying eyes that he didn't deem worthy and Ben certainly fell into that category, so he'd never seen her for himself. That, of course, didn't' mean that he hadn't speculated what she would look like. After all, her mother, Queen Sparrow, had been quite a public figure.

The queen had been a beautiful woman, even when she was late into her forties when she passed away. Even though the princess wasn't particularly unattractive, she wasn't what you'd expect as Queen Raina's only daughter.

"I'm honoured to meet you, Captain," she said politely and gave a small curtsy which Ben returned with a nod.

"Celeste will be helping with the battle tonight. Treat her just like any other pair of hands," Walter said, crossing his arms. "That means no funny business, Ben."

Ben couldn't help but roll his eyes. He didn't go after everything that moved. He had his type, after all and the princess was certainly not it. "Don't worry, Wally. Where do you want her, Swiftie?"

The major looked as if he was struggling with himself before twirling his moustache thoughtfully. "Take her up to the mortar, Ben. The sun will be setting in a few minutes."

"Sure. Come on, Princess." He started towards the battlement, but Walter took him aside for a moment.

"Take care of her, Ben. That's your job for tonight," the old man whispered fiercely. "If anything happens to her, I'm blaming you."

Ben threw up his hands in defence. "She'll be safe in my hands, I promise."

As he walked away, he heard Walter mutter something about mostly being worried about his hands in the first place.

"Right, Princess, feel free to ask me anything," he said as they made their way up to the battlements. "Don't avoid asking questions because you're afraid of seeming stupid. Being dead is a whole lot stupider."

"I do have one question," she said quietly and he eyed her out of the corner of his eyes. "How many men are still left here? I mean able-bodied men."

"Not too many, I'm afraid. Any specific reason that you're asking?"

Despite her quiet tone, her eyes burned with unwavering determination. "I'm worried and I want to help. I can't believe Logan has basically sent you out here to die."

"No offence, Princess, but do you even know which end of the sword to hold on to?" he joked.

Those almost black eyes bored into his again. "I'm a good enough swordswoman to hold my own, yet to know when someone is my better."

Ben came to a halt on the stairs and turned to face her with slight interest and amusement. "And? What do you think about me?"

A light blush coloured cheeks as she avoided his eyes. "I don't know yet, Captain. It's much too early to make up my mind. I can tell you, however, that I do believe that you seem to be an honest man, if nothing else. You also seem to know your way around a battlefield."

"Honest? That's a new one," he chuckled. "But you are correct about the battlefield part. Organised or not." They reached the extensively bandaged Jammy and the mortar at the top of the stairs. "This eyesore is Private Jammy. Jammiest sod in the whole Swift Brigade."

"Seven-hundred and twenty-four injuries and still standing!" Jammy sniffed loudly before holding out a hand for the princess to shake. "Captain Finn here is just jealous."

The princess carefully took his bandaged hand, the tiniest of smiles on her face. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Private Jammy. I'm Celeste."

"This is the Princess. She'll be helping tonight," Ben added quickly.

"The pleasure is mine, Princess. Are you ready to give those hollow men what's coming to them?" A sudden sadistic smile spread over Jammy's face and Ben almost burst out laughing at the look of apprehension on the Princess's face.

"You know it, Jammy. We're here to teach her how to use the mortar," Ben replied, chuckling. He turned his attention back to the slightly shell-shocked princess. "Jammy will be your loader during the battle tonight. The answer might be pretty obvious, but have you ever used a mortar before, love?"

She blushed again as she shook her head and he wondered for a moment how this shy little thing could be a Hero and the leader of the revolution. "Um…no, I haven't, sir."

"Right, I thought so. " He explained the method of using the mortar quickly, all the way sizing her up in his mind. He didn't think much of her already and he could only hope that she wouldn't get herself killed in the battle to come.

"Very well." She gingerly placed her hands on the handholds and eyed him out of the corner of her eye. "Like this, Captain?"

"Exactly. Just watch out-" Before he could finish his sentence, she'd already lit the fuse and was sent flying onto her rear. "…For the recoil," he added under his breath. "You alright, love?"

Celeste looked up at him, her face melting into a huge smile and her eyes sparkling brightly. "That was wonderful!" she exclaimed enthusiastically before looking embarrassed. He chuckled again as he took her hand to haul her to her feet.

"Just wait until you see how it feels to blow up those stupid skeletons." To his immense surprise, all that was left of the scarecrow was a smouldering pile of ashes. "Good shot, Princess!"

"BOOM! Just like that!" Jammy exclaimed clapping loudly. "I haven't seen shooting like that since the Major himself took the mortar."

"I still maintain that he cheated," Ben muttered under his breath, but Jammy merely laughed again.

"You're just jealous, Captain. Why don't you try again, Princess?"

"Gladly!" This time she managed to hold on to the mortar and she destroyed the scarecrow with another direct hit.

Jammy's enthusiasm was contagious. "Take that, you bastards!"

"You're doing exceptionally well, love," Ben said, smiling. The princess looked positively radiant as she blushed again and smiled shyly. "There's still one left."

Jammy's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he studied the target. "I don't remember setting that one up…"

They all watched in horror as the scarecrow morphed into a demonic skeleton and Ben readied his rifle quickly. "Right, Princess, this is the part where you show us what you can do!"

She swallowed audibly as she aimed the mortar. "Very well. I'll do my best."

_Let's hope your best is good enough, Princess,_ he thought grimly to himself. _Or else we're __**all**__ in big trouble._


	4. Chapter 4 : A battle for Mourningwood

_AN: Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourite or alerted to this story. I truly appreciate it!_

___Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it_

_Chapter 4: A battle for Mourningwood  
_

"We have company, men!" Captain Finn thundered next to Celeste as he sighted his rifle. "Battle stations, now!"

Frantic cries filled the fort immediately following his words as the men scrambled to barricade the door and grab their weapons.

"Princess, just keep on firing. I'll tell you when they're too close," the captain said calmly despite the chaos surrounding them and Celeste felt the knot in her stomach unclench just the tiniest fraction.

"Y-yes, sir," she stammered before aiming at a cluster of hollow men that had just appeared out of the ground. They disappeared in a cloud of undead dust and Jammy let out a loud whoop of celebration.

"Take that, you undead bastards! How do you like that?! Again, Princess!"

Not one to deny others pleasure, strange as it might be, Celeste quickly sent cannonballs flying to just about every centimetre of the battlefield. Too soon to her liking, however, Captain Finn placed a firm hand on her shoulder to halt her assault.

"Right, Princess. It's time to show us what you're made of." He shot her a wink as he reloaded his rifle and gestured to the stairs. "After you, my lady."

She was suddenly overcome with a wave of fright and her legs refused to move. Something about the fact that these monsters couldn't feel pain or die as easily as the enemies she'd faced previously scared het witless.

"No time for cold feet, love. Let's go!" Ben gave her a firm shove and her legs regained their ability to move as she almost stumbled to the courtyard.

The men were all waiting anxiously at the barricaded door. The only noise that punctured the quiet night was the ghastly moans and the steady thump of the undead horde trying to break through the door.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Major Swift looked as calm as ever, despite the trouble that was literally on their doorstep.

"Yes, sir." She fingered the hilt of her sword nervously.

"Just avoid dying and you'll be fine," Ben commented next to her.

"Easier said than done," she muttered under her breath as the pounding increased in volume. Apollo gave a nervous whine as he bumped his head against her leg. "It's alright, boy," she said more for her own state of mind than his. "We'll do fine."

Suddenly, the groan of breaking wood sounded and the hollow men started pouring into the fort.

"Swift Brigade, charge!" Riley yelled and the night air was filled with gunfire and clashing blades.

Celeste narrowly dodged a swinging blade and quickly rolled to the side to strike the attacking skeleton. Just as she was starting to feel better about her chances of surviving, she heard a shouted warning for her to move and after a moment's hesitation, she heeded the call. That delayed reaction, however, caused her to catch a mace with the bulk of her thigh. She fell to the ground with a pained cry, but before the mace struck her again, she managed to roll out of the way and got to her feet. Before she could kill the offending enemy, a loud shot caused it to crumple to the ground. She shot a quick look over her shoulder to find her saviour, only to see Captain Finn tossing her quick salute and a wink before focussing on the opposite direction again.

A loud scream caught her attention and she saw a Hollow Man on the verge of delivering a killing blow to Jammy. As quickly as she could, she dashed to his side and managed to block the downwards arching blade with her mother's sword. The bandaged soldier shot her a silent thank you and he clambered to his feet as she swiftly decapitated the creature.

"Thanks, Princess! I owe you!" he sniffed before scrambling to the safety of the battlements.

After her and Jammy's near brushes with death, the battle went considerably better. However, she couldn't help but notice that even though she was used to quick bouts of furious combat, the drawn-out battle was slowly but surely wearing her down. Everything was starting to ache, but her injured leg was screaming at her in particular. She was hesitant to use her will overly much out of fear that a spell would go awry due to her lack of knowledge and, as she told Major Swift and Walter, she couldn't shoot worth a damn. Her style of sword-fighting was also more suited for showcases or sparring, not for killing hordes of Hollow Men.

Finally, the last Hollow Man crumbled to dust and a loud cheer tore through the remaining soldiers.

"You, my dear, are going to fit in here exceptionally well!" Major Swift said jovially as he clapped her on the shoulder. "Jolly good show!"

"I have to say, love, I was a bit sceptical, but you're still standing," Ben chimed in.

Celeste was overcome with soldiers congratulating her and her show of apparent "heroic skills". She was just about to get embarrassed by the amount of attention that she was receiving, when a loud groan of earth sounded behind them.

To her horror, she saw a huge Hollow Man struggling to climb out of his grave. The name on the grave stone caught her attention. _Lieutenant Simmons._

"Um, we have a problem!" she cried and unsheathed her sword.

Major Swift readied his rifle with a flourish and aimed at the newly resurrected lieutenant. "Lieutenant Simmons! I specifically ordered you to stay dead!" he said and shot another hole through his already torn abdomen.

The skeleton continued shambling towards them and Ben also added a shot of his own. "Doesn't anyone follow orders around here?!"

Before anyone else could comment on the situation, the Hollow Man uttered a loud, piercing shriek that rebounded off of the stone walls. Celeste watched in horror as all of the men surrounding her slumped to the ground, unconscious.

A sharp cry of frustration escaped her as the lieutenant called more Hollow Men out of the ground around her and she quickly fired a few rounds from her mother's old pistol. By some merciful act from above, she managed to hit two of them squarely in the head. Unfortunately, that left about seven more, as well as Lieutenant Simmons.

Apollo, thankfully, was still awake as well and he tackled one of them to the ground and ripped off its head. This gave her a surge of newfound resolve and she charged the largest Hollow Man, only to curse loudly when her sword barely grazed him. He bellowed again and she was sent flying onto her rear. The impact jolted her thigh viciously and she cried out in pain.

The creature stomped towards her, a menacing expression on its already monstrous face. Stifling a groan, she leapt to her feet, her sword brandished in front of her. Before she could attack, the Hollow Man sent her weapon spinning out of her hand with disconcerting ease and she was left defenceless.

Just in time, she remembered her pistol and fumbled to get it out of its elaborate holster as she dashed away from the approaching skeleton.

In future retellings of that particular story, she would have liked to say that she had an elaborate plan to kill Lieutenant Simmons that was executed exactly as she imagined. The much more embarrassing truth, however, was that her measly strategy consisted of running away and firing shots in its general direction, silently praying that she'd hit something.

Finally, just as she was about to faint from exhaustion and the throbbing pain of her leg that was barely managing to support her after her mad dash, the creature fell down with a howl before bursting into a shower of dust. Ever so slowly, the soldiers started to stir awake, their expressions dazed. Celeste slumped to the ground and sagged against one of the crumbling pillars, a weary smile on her face. Apollo came to rest over her legs with a sigh and she threaded her fingers through his dusty coat. She was alive and she'd destroyed that monster all on her own.

_Maybe I can do this after all,_ she thought as she closed her eyes.

oOoOoOo

Ben awoke with a loud groan to a whole lot of commotion around him. His addled mind could barely make out a whole lot of people scurrying around and more than a few orders being tossed around.

When he managed to open his eyes, he saw that the other men were just as confused as he was. Those who were already on their feet were tending to the wounded or fixing the broken down barricades.

_Not even a few moments of rest for the Swift Brigade, _he sighed and pushed himself off of the ground. It would be best if he got to work to help getting them back on their feet.

As he scanned the area for a place where he could help best, his eyes settled on a slumped over figure against the wall in one of the back corners. With a start, he realised who it was.

"You'd better not have died on my watch, Princess," he muttered as he dashed towards her still form. "Walter will have my head." When he crouched next to her, he was relieved to see her still breathing, albeit shallowly. The side of her left leg showed evidence of being hit by a mace, but to his amazement, it was already starting to heal. Other than that, the only thing that seemed to be wrong with her was extreme exhaustion. Ben couldn't help but notice that she looked quite sweet with the small smile etched onto her full lips. She might look like a young girl, but it was clear from the faint lines around her eyes that she had seen pain beyond her years. It gave her a sense of maturity that made her seem all the more appealing. Besides all of that, she'd just shown that she wasn't completely lost on the battlefield. In effect, she'd just saved all of their lives.

"Captain?" came her whispered question and yanked him out of a rather embarrassing mind-set.

_Not the best place for your mind to wander, Ben,_ he chastised himself. _It's obviously been a while since you've been with a woman if you're thinking about her in that way._

"Hey, Princess. You alright?" he settled for asking.

She gave a tiny nod before wincing. "Nothing particularly life-threatening, but my leg is positively aching." She tried to push herself into a standing position, but Ben firmly, yet gently held her down. Her dark eyes were filled with a confused question when they met his own light blue ones.

"If you stand up, you are only going to make it worse. Come on." With this, he placed one of her arms around his neck before hooking one arm behind her knees and another around her waist. He could have sworn that he saw her blush, but he owed it to the residual adrenaline and the fact that she was clearly not used to being so close to a man.

_And, of course, I am a devilishly handsome soldier,_ he thought to himself with a princess or not, it did wonders for his ego that he could still elicit a reaction from a woman in his bloody and filthy state.

While he was taking her to where the medics were stationed, he didn't even notice that one of the not quite dead skeletons on the ground was lifting its rifle at him.

"Captain!" Celeste shrieked suddenly, her eyes now wide open. Ben barely had time to whirl around when he felt the tell-tale blow of a bullet imbedding itself in his shoulder. Ben uttered a low groan as he struggled to keep them both upright. He failed miserably, but their landing was more graceful than he'd hoped for. One of the other soldiers reacted quickly and the offending Hollow Man was killed.

"Finn!" Riley quickly hurried to their side, the few medical supplies that they still had already at hand. The medic moved towards the side where the blood was already perforating his shirt and vest, but Ben absentmindedly waved him away. Though it hurt like hell, he'd be alright. He first had to make sure that the princess was treated. After all, Walter would have his head if something happened to her.

"Check her leg first," he ground out. "I'll be fine."

"I'm fine, Captain," Celeste said quietly as she knelt next to him and looked at him, concern burning in her midnight eyes. "I'm not even bleeding anymore."

Ben waved her off again. "Grant me some stubborn pride, love. Now that's an order, Riley. Patch her up first."

Riley took a few moments to clean and bandage her wound while Ben tried to ignore the pain in his shoulder. It had dulled into a steady ache, but a very persistent and rather painful ache.

"Now can I help you, Finn?" Riley asked and quirked a thick eyebrow in annoyance. "She's fine."

"Fine." He gritted his teeth and let out a hiss when the medic started to pull him to his feet. "Careful, Riley. It already hurts like hell."

"Shut up. You're the one who wasn't paying attention," Riley joked before turning his attention to the princess. "I know your leg must hurt, sweetheart, but do you feel up to helping?"

"Of course." She hooked the captain's arm around her neck, something that Ben found to be a rather hilarious mirror image to their earlier positions. He chuckled slightly, which earned him a very concerned expression from both his helpers.

Riley raised an eyebrow again before leading him to the stretchers. "Did he hit his head?"

"I don't think so. Maybe it's bloodloss," Celeste speculated. He could see from her expression that she was feeling guilty.

"Now calm down, love. This isn't your fault." Ben couldn't help but notice how his words slurred. Feeling even more confused, he tried to glance at his injury, but only saw blood. To his horror, he saw that the blood had saturated almost his entire upper arm. "That's a lot of blood," he muttered, a wave of weariness washing over him.

The princess looked at his injury as well and, if he wasn't currently very close to fainting, he would have laughed at the way she almost literally turned green.

"It's just blood," he chuckled and the princess quickly averted her gaze, a blush colouring her pale features. "Has anyone ever told you that you are adorable when you blush?" The question came before he could stop himself and he found himself wondering where the hell it had come from.

Her blush deepened even further. Luckily, before she could reply, they reached the stretchers and they placed him down. No matter how gentle they were attempting to be, it still jolted his injury. Riley started to cut away his stained uniform while the princess sat down on one of the crates next to him.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I should have been more aware about what was going on," she said quietly.

Ben shot her a faint smile that quickly turned to one of chagrin when the red-headed medic started to prod at the entry wound. "It's nobody's fault, Princess. But I do wish someone would be more careful," he hissed at Riley.

Riley ignored him and turned his attention back to the princess. "Princess, can you go fetch some alcohol for the whining little girl?"

She leapt to her feet and quickly dashed to their makeshift mess area and returned with a wooden mug. "This is all I could find," she said apologetically as she took her seat. "Can you sit upright?"

Ben tried to push himself off of the bed, but he gasped in pain before falling back down. "Doesn't seem like it. Help, please?"

The ale helped a bit, but he could still feel a sharp pain every time Riley so much as touched his side. "How long is this going to take?" he ground out.

He didn't like the expression on the medic's face. "Bad news, Finn. We're going to have to dig the bullet out."

"Oh for f-Just do it," he sighed.

"Princess, I'm going to have to ask you to help. My hands aren't small enough to reach it."

"W-What?!" Her eyes widened considerably and she became even paler than usual. "Is it really necessary?"

Ben's vision was steadily growing more unclear. "Listen, if you don't get this thing out in the next few seconds, we're going to have a serious problem."

"Um…Very well."

oOoOoOo

Celeste carefully came to kneel next to the medic. Her stomach was rolling at the mere sight of all the blood, but she bit her tongue from backing out. If she didn't help the Captain, she'd never forgive herself.

"Why is it bleeding so much?" she asked lowly so that Ben couldn't hear.

"I think it nicked an artery or a vein. However, if it was the former, it should have cleared up a bit by now." Riley seemed almost worried and the expression was so out of place on his usually joking face that she felt her blood chill.

"Is it serious?"

"I won't know until you get that thing out." Unfortunately, his tone couldn't mask the expression on his face. Suddenly Celeste remembered the tiny red bottle that she'd been carrying around since she found it in a chest near Brightwall. She hadn't had reason to use it yet. None of her injuries had been severe enough that her Hero healing couldn't treat it.

She fished for it in her pelt pouch and held it out to the medic, who regarded it curiously. "Would this help?"

"Where in Albion did you find one of these? I thought they were all but out of stock!" He interrupted himself with a shake of his head. "No matter. I'm not going to ask. Just help me get the bullet out and this'll patch him right up."

"What do I do?" she asked quietly. The medic gave her a sidelong glance as he palpated the area around the entry wound, causing Ben to wince and swear with every touch.

"All I need you to do is carefully place your finger in the wound and feel around for the metal of the bullet. See if you can get it out, but if you start to struggle, let me know and we'll make another plan," Riley said calmly.

She nodded before prodding ever so carefully. Ben still winced even though she barely touched him and she instinctively yanked her hand away. "I can't do it. I'm hurting him," she argued.

Ben shot her a weary look from his position in the stretcher. "This thing is hurting me either way, sweetheart. I'll try to keep still, but for the love of all things holy, please get it out."

An involuntary laugh escaped her and both men regarded her with a confused expression. "It's just that I didn't think you the type of man to beg, Captain," she explained as she attempted to remove the shrapnel again. Luckily, the bullet wasn't too deep and came loose easily enough.

"I'm not above begging from a beautiful woman, love," he said huskily, a tired semblance of his usual roguish smile on his lips. She cursed herself for blushing again as she placed the bullet on the barrel next to him and Riley poured the healing potion down his throat. The colour to his face reappeared seemingly instantly and she couldn't help but heave an inward sigh of relief.

"There you go, Captain. A little souvenir," she said lightly before getting to her feet and brushing off imaginary dust off of her breeches. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

Before she could leave, he weakly grasped her hand and she looked at him warily. "Thanks, love. Now we're even," he said with that cocky grin of his firmly plastered on his face.

She smiled shyly in return and gave a small curtsy. "I'll see you later, Captain. Thank you for patching up my leg, Riley."

Both men signed off identical salutes and she left to find Walter.

She found him at the main gate, busying himself with ordering the other men to fix it. She smiled to herself at the scene and went to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. He faced her with an annoyed expression before it melted into one of relief.

"Celeste! I was just about to come find you! I knew you'd be alright," he boasted proudly, a smile on his gruff face as he placed a large hand on her shoulder.

"It warms my heart to know you care, Walter," she said, rolling her eyes. "Now I was wondering…" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I should probably go change before anyone notices that Thomas is gone."

"Good thinking. Teleport to the Sanctuary from one of the dark corners. I'll see you later."

With a shake of her head, she went to go do as he suggested. _I'm already tired of this whole charade and it hasn't even been a day._


	5. Chapter 5 : Misconceptions

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or follows this story. Very much appreciated!  
_

_Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it  
_

_Chapter 5: Misconceptions_

Ben rolled over for what had to be the tenth time that hour. Whatever had been in that healing concoction was keeping him wide awake, even though his body was screaming at him to go to sleep. The rest of the men had retired to their own straw heaps a few hours earlier and he was very aware that he was probably the only one who wasn't passed out from exertion.

After another failed attempt to get to sleep, he pushed himself off of the stretcher, ignoring his protesting shoulder. It hurt a lot less, but it was still stiff and painful when he moved it at a certain angle. He wandered to where the fire was crackling merrily.

It wasn't until he plopped down on the ground and warmed his hands that he noticed someone else sitting there as well.

"How's the shoulder?" Thomas asked, a small smile on his lips as his fingers threaded through the dog's fur. Said dog raised his head to look at Ben almost disinterestedly before settling down and sighing loudly. "I heard you had a little run-in with a not so dead undead."

Ben shrugged his uninjured shoulder and rolled his eyes at Thomas and his mutt. "Ha, ha. You , sir, are hilarious. Fine, under the circumstances. And you? It's heart-warming to see you alive," he replied dryly and rubbed his hands briskly. "But why aren't you asleep?"

A loud sigh sounded from the younger man. "Can't. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't rattled by that fight. Every time I close my eyes, I see those things." Ben couldn't help but notice that he looked especially young in the flickering firelight. He couldn't be much older than him when he'd set off to see the world.

_Damn, you're making yourself sound like an old man, Finn,_ he chuckled darkly to himself.

"What's so funny?" Thomas asked with a side-long glance.

"Just the musings of an old soldier," he replied, smirking. At this, Thomas's eyebrow nearly rose into his fringe.

"You are hardly old, Ben."

Ben chuckled again. "That might be true, but I've seen enough things to make feel that I am. Speaking of age, how old are you, Tom?"

The dark-haired youth was silent a minute before answering. "Believe it or not, I'm two-and-twenty as of last autumn," he replied slowly.

"What?" It was Ben's turn to look shocked. "How-"

"Let's just leave it at I was blessed with a youthful face," he interrupted with a lopsided smile. "I've been told that I'll be grateful for it in about twenty years."

Ben shook his head good-naturedly. "Hate to break it to you, but they're just trying to make you feel better," he said lightly.

"I gathered as much," Thomas laughed. Ben found his eyes darting to the small pile of papers next to him and he instantly recognised it.

"How…are you finding my autobiography?" he asked hesitantly. Though the men seemed to enjoy his stories, he was quite hesitant to hear what someone else thought, especially someone who has been studying with scholars all his life.

"I finished it a few minutes ago. It's remarkably short," he said with a shrug and Ben could swear from the twinkle in Tom's blue eyes that he was trying to torture him by dragging it out.

"Yes, well…I misplaced the rest of it." Two can play that game.

"Oh. Like this one?" Thomas waved another, slightly unfamiliar page covered in his scrawl in front of his face.

"Where the hell did you get that?" he asked, truly surprised.

Thomas merely smiled an enigmatic smile. "I'm not telling. But what I will say is that your writing is very…compelling." He tapped his chin in clear mock thought. "Though I find it very entertaining that you find it necessary to use the most elaborate wording possible while telling your story."

"I'm not just a pretty face, Tom," Ben replied with a wink. "But I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"I'd love to read more. Let me know if you remember where you left the others." They sat in silence for a moment before Ben became uncomfortable. He'd never been one to sit in silence for longer than necessary.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you come here? I'm not even close to falling asleep, so I don't mind if it's a long story."

Thomas sighed slightly and scooted closer to the fire. "Very well, but I warn you, it doesn't even come close to your stories."

Ben motioned for him to continue as he reclined against the wall. Another sigh sounded from his companion, but he came to sit next to him.

"Well, I was raised in Brightwall up until I was five where my mother worked in the Academy. She then decided that she wanted to broaden her literary horizon, and we moved to Samarkand. She then sent me to their version of the Brightwall Academy to study literature and to be trained as a scholar."

His eyes dropped to his lap. "When I was about fifteen years old, my mother died of an illness. At first I decided to stay with them for a few years, but I missed her too much. While she was on her deathbed, she wrote me a letter to read after she'd…passed on. In it, she told me about my father who was a knight in the service of the crown. Foolishly, I wanted to impress him, so I sought out someone to teach me the art of swordfighting so that I wouldn't be completely helpless when I introduced myself."

"So a few months ago, I caught a ship here." A smile tugged at his lips. "Needless to say, he didn't believe me at first, but when I showed him the letter, he accepted me with open arms. I was barely settling in when I was yanked into this whole revolution." He gave another shrug. "And that's how I ended up here."

"That's not as boring as I expected," Ben said lightly. He knew how it felt to lose a mother to a long sickbed, but he wasn't about to have a heart-to-heart with anyone about his rather sordid past. His thoughts darted to his autobiography. _At least out loud,_ he corrected himself. "So you know the princess?"

"Celeste?" A strange spark glinted in his blue eyes. "Sure…We're not close, but we've had a few conversations."

"But what do you think about her? Is she really a Hero?" She might have helped him out earlier and she might have defeated Simmons on her own, but he wasn't entirely convinced that she was the type to overthrow the king and take the throne.

"I…don't think it's my place to discuss that," he replied guardedly. "You've met her. You must have formed your own opinion."

"I have…but I was just hoping to get an opinion from someone who has had more to do with her," Ben said. "If I have to be honest, I always thought that she'd be a little spoiled or maybe she would be useless with a weapon. You must have had at least a few encounters with the nobles to know what they're like." He shrugged again. "And then I thought that she might be like her brother. Insane and sadistic."

"And…why would you think that? You hadn't even met her," Thomas asked in a neutral tone.

Ben couldn't stop the rise of his eyebrow. "Are you joking? She's a princess, for crying out loud. She wasn't raised in difficult circumstances. She grew up in a bloody castle. She probably doesn't even know what it feels like to go to bed hungry."

He rested his head against the wall, not looking at his companion. "I don't know how you grew up, but you read my biography. There are many days that we couldn't even afford bread. You were, what, ten, when the queen passed away? You weren't in Albion anymore, so you probably don't know that it wasn't good for the people in the smaller villages under King George's rule. Prices on simple objects sky-rocketed, work was scarce, slavers were in good business and the king was all too willing to turn a blind eye if people had enough gold."

"I was long gone by the time Logan was crowned, but apparently it got better for a few years." He chuckled darkly. "Then, of course, it became downright terrible. I guess all I mean is that this is probably the first time she left her perfect little world."

"And how do you know that?" When he glanced at Tom, he was surprised to see him looking almost…angry.

He quickly threw up his hands in a placating gesture. "But if you don't want to talk-"

"I don't. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to trying to fall asleep. Night, Captain," he said curtly and got to his feet.

Ben watched with an expression of confusion, but decided to let it pass and tried to get to sleep himself.

oOoOoOo

Celeste struggled to fall asleep after her conversation with Captain Finn. Yes, what he had said about the way she'd grown up was mostly true, but it had hurt to hear what he thought about her.

_Does he honestly think me some spoiled noble who cares nothing for the people around her?_ she thought miserably. Of course she'd never struggled. She grew up in a castle with servants at her beck and call, her every need always met, but that didn't mean that she had treated people as if she was better than them. At least not…intentionally.

_But maybe…maybe that's what everyone thinks of me…No wonder no one trusts me yet._ She rolled over to stroke Apollo's head. The dog gave a soft whine and moved closer to her. Celeste pulled the rickety blanket up to her chin to ward off the cold as she continued to mull over her thoughts. Lines from Captain Finn's autobiography kept swimming into the forefront of her mind. Despite his obvious attempt at humour and light-hearted banter about his childhood, she could sense the hurt behind the words. From cocksure soldiers to royalty who'd barely left the castle grounds, it seemed that everyone was haunted by their past in some way.

It felt as if she'd barely fallen asleep when someone shook her awake.

"Come on, sleepyhead. The revolution won't run itself," Walter's gruff words sounded in her ear. She groggily rubbed at her eyes as she sat upright. The sky was filled with dark clouds and a light drizzle was falling down.

"What time is it?" she managed through a yawn.

"Late enough that you're almost the last one up. The only other sod still asleep is that lazy dog, Ben!" He bellowed the last sentence towards the other body wrapped in a blanket on the stretcher.

The sleeping mound rolled over and tossed a pillow at Walter's head. "I'm awake, you old nut," the captain grumbled as he struggled upright. Even from her vantage point, Celeste could see that he was still favouring his arm. "And I don't appreciate your grumbling as the thing I wake up to." Ben's gaze caught hers and smiled lopsidedly in her direction. "Of course, waking up to your face is a welcome sight, my dear princess," he said glibly.

Celeste hurriedly looked to the ground to hide her blushing face. "I'd better go see if I can help with anything," she stammered and hurried to her feet. She could hear the deep chuckle from both the captain and her mentor as she headed to where most of the men were busy.

The other men were already busy cleaning up the remains from the previous night's fight and she raked her fingers through her unruly hair in an effort to neaten it. After a quick breakfast of stale bread, she headed over to Major Swift.

"Good morning, my lady," the major called jovially when she approached. "It's good to see you no worse for wear."

"I wish you'd stop calling me that, sir," she replied with a smile. "I did nothing to deserve such respect from a man as distinguished as yourself, Major."

"Humour an old man, dear girl," he chuckled. "What can I do for you on this dreary morning?"

"Actually, I came to ask what I can do to help you, Major."

The major twirled his moustache thoughtfully before he seemed to decide. "There doesn't seem to be much to do here. If you can rouse Ben, he can get started with your shooting lessons."

A flash of anger shot up her spine as she thought about the previous night's conversation. _Well, Captain Finn and Tom's conversation,_ she thought dryly. It would be best if she acted as if nothing had happened.

"Of course, sir. Please, call if there is anything else I can do to help," she said courteously before heading back to where she thought she'd find the still sleeping captain. To her surprise, he was already dressed and cleaning his rifle. He was muttering under his breath as his arm moved at an angle that was sure to hurt it and she carefully approached him as to not enrage him further.

"Captain Finn? Can I speak with you?" she asked quietly. The blond soldier barely glanced up from his rifle as he continued his work.

She almost considered asking again when he placed his gun down and looked up at her, arrogant smile already on his face. "Of course, Princess. What can I do for you?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Major Swift said that you could help improve my shooting. Is this a bad time?"

"Of course not, love. Let's go out back where there is less chance for you to hurt any innocent bystanders." The captain sprung to his feet and led her to a clearing near the back of the fort. She felt a surge of relief when she saw that the only things she could do harm were a few large trees lining the area. "Alright, Princess. What are you using to shoot with?"

Celeste hesitantly took her mother's old Red Dragon pistol from the holster around her thigh. Ben took the pistol carefully from her hand and inspected it eagerly. He let out a low whistle after a while of silence.

"This is a fine weapon, my lady. It would indeed be a pity if you are unable to wield it properly," he said simply and handed it back to her.

"They called my mother "Gunslinger". I'm sad to say that it seems that I did not receive the gift," she said quietly as she traced the weapon's worn name in the wood.

"Nonsense. No offence to Wally, but he isn't the best shot I've ever seen, so I'm sure his teaching skills were a bit lacking. When I'm done with you, you'll do your mother proud," Ben said lightly. He pointed to the gnarled bark of one of the farther trees. "Well, come on. Let's see what I have to work with."

Her eyes widened at the distant target. "I can't shoot that far," she argued, but the captain would have none of it.

"If you want me to help you, you need to stop acting as if I'm one of your servants at the castle who is going to go easy on you or take orders. When I tell you to do something, you do it. Got it?" he said in a stern voice that she thought the carefree soldier incapable of possessing.

"Very well," she muttered, feeling the heat of her anger at his comment and the previous night's conversation colouring her face as she sighted her pistol. As she had warned him, the shot missed the bark by an embarrassingly large margin. The captain let out a sigh and came to stand behind her and placed his hands on her waist.

A small sound of indignation passed over her lips and the angry flush darkened with embarrassment at the intimate contact. Ben, however, merely chuckled, not removing his hands. "I'm not going to do anything inappropriate, Princess. Your stance is all wrong." He nudged her legs further apart with foot and rotated her hips ever so slightly. "Now try again," he whispered into her ear, his hands still maintaining their hold on her.

She still missed the target, but at least it had grazed the wood. He removed his hands from her waist and after each shot he adjusted her position slightly and told her what to do to improve her aim. Her arm and legs were more than feeling the strain of being overworked and both she and the captain were clearly getting a bit frustrated,

After what felt like hours of shooting, it became apparent that she wasn't going to be hitting the target anytime soon. Though her muscles started screaming at her with fatigue, she continued to try, failing more and more every time.

Another hour had passed and they were both getting irritated with her failure. She slumped onto the ground with a tired sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm wasting both of our time," she muttered dejectedly.

"Get up, Princess," he said in that stern tone of his again and yanked her up to her feet. "You're not going to get any better if you keep feeling sorry for yourself."

"I'm not pitying myself!" she snapped, meeting his eyes fiercely. "All I'm saying is that this isn't helping. There are a lot of things we could be doing that could be more help than me firing inaccurately at a stupid piece of wood!"

"When this saves your life, it is going to be damn helpful," he said patiently as if speaking with a petulant child.

She couldn't argue with his logic, but she was getting frustrated with her lack of progress. His tone wasn't helping her anger either. _I always thought that she'd be a little spoiled or maybe she would be useless with a weapon_, his words echoed in her ears. Furious that she was proving him right in at least one regard of his impression of her, she uttered a loud sigh and fired one last shot at the tree.

To her immense surprise, as well as Ben's, her projectile lodged into the centre of the bark.

Without thinking, she let out a whoop of delight and she whirled around to throw her arms around the captain's neck in a gleeful hug. When she caught herself, she hurriedly backed away, blushing furiously. He cut off her stammered apology with another chuckle, completely unfazed by her display.

"Good job, love. I knew you had it in you," he said without missing a beat and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "We can give it another try tomorrow. Let's go see if there's something to eat before the attack tonight."

While they were sitting down with roughhewn bowls of watery soup, Walter approached them.

"Celeste. Be sure to pack up your things tonight. We're leaving first thing tomorrow," he said curtly.

She looked up at him surprise. "So soon, Walter?"

Walter harrumphed loudly. "We did what we came to do. We'd best get going to Bowerstone. Come see me when you're done."

With a rather unladylike gulp and a quick apology in Ben's direction, she finished her soup and headed to where Walter was sitting. "What's going on, Walter?" she whispered so that no one would overhear.

""Celeste" is heading to Bowerstone tomorrow. Thomas can stay here. There are still a few things for me to do before you can speak with the leader of the rebellion. You can then come to Bowerstone with them," he said quickly and equally quietly.

The mere thought of donning her disguise again sent a wave of frustration rushing down her spine. However, she knew there would be no point in arguing. "Of course. How long will that be?"

"Major Swift assures me it won't be more than a few days at most." Walter pulled her into a brisk, tight hug. "I'm sorry for leaving you, dear girl. If it weren't so dangerous…Maybe this was a mistake," he muttered when he pulled away and looked her in the eye. "Maybe you should come with me."

"Does that mean I don't have to disguise myself again?" she asked hopefully, despite her sadness at Walter's leaving, but Walter merely chuckled again and ruffled the hair on the top of her head.

"I still have a few things to do before tomorrow," he continued as if she hadn't said anything. "Major Swift is of the opinion that it'll be quiet evening tonight. I think we deserve a night off." A strange expression crossed his face. "Do me a favour, Celeste. Take care of yourself. Your mother would come back to haunt me if something happened to you."

She popped up to the tip of her toes to kiss him lightly on the cheek. "I promise. And please do the same, Walter," she pleaded softly, her words sincere. "I don't think my heart would be able to bear it if I lost you."

"You wouldn't miss an old fool like me. Now enough of these goodbyes," he said gruffly, but she could hear the tremble in his voice. "It wouldn't do to have you tearing up."

"Me?" she asked incredulously as she trailed after him to where the other men were sitting. "I'd take a glance in a looking glass if I were you, Walter."

"I need some ale."


	6. Settling In

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or followed this story. Very much appreciated!  
_

___Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it_  


_Chapter 6_

Celeste hid her clothes as well as her Guild Seal that she wore on a chain around her neck in a bush near the lake and wrapped a towel around her. After a few moments of hesitation, she decided to keep her beard and wig near her just in case. The "princess" was already supposed to be on her way to Bowerstone with Walter, so it would make more sense for "Thomas" to be bathing. She wrapped the towel even tighter around her middle as she dashed toward the water. The sun had barely risen and she'd decided that that would be the best time for a quick bath without being seen.

After ordering Apollo to heel at the shore in an effort to have some semblance of a watch, she hesitantly dipped her toe into the water and shivered at the contact. She'd expected the water to be frozen at that time of the morning, but it was still very discouraging to think that she was supposed to bathe in the cold water.

Very careful to keep herself covered for as long as possible, she waded into the water. When she was about thigh deep into the water, she ripped off the towel and hurriedly lowered herself until the water reached her shoulders, keeping the towel above her head. With her teeth chattering and her limbs already shaking, she waded over to a large rock and placed the towel, soap, facial hair and wig and on top of it.

She swam a bit deeper into the water so that she could become completely submerged and after wetting her hair, she lathered the soap into her dirty locks. As she detangled her dried-out strands of hair, she couldn't help but lament in the loss of the expensive bathing salts and soaps that she'd had in the castle. Until she'd lost them, she hadn't realised exactly how many little luxuries that she hadn't even appreciated she'd actually had.

She was busy lathering soap over the rest her body when she heard a loud bark from Apollo followed by a rustle and voices from the surrounding foliage on the opposite side of the lake from where she'd entered. As quickly as she could, she swam to the rock and yanked on her disguise. Just as she stuck on her goatee, a quartet of men exited from the dense forest. From her semi-hiding spot, she recognised Captain Finn, Riley, Fred and Jammy heading towards her. They were all simply wrapped in towels and laughing loudly.

Suddenly she panicked. The water was murky, but if they got close enough, they would know that she was lying to them about who she was right away.

_Why on earth did I leave my Guild Seal on the shore?_ she cursed silently. Her window to escape was getting smaller and smaller. She could swim closer, but that still raised the question as to how she was supposed to leave the water without being spotted. The lake wasn't that big that she could avoid them.

"Jammy, you know that you're supposed to keep those dry, don't you?" Ben's voice commented from the shore.

"Yeah." He sniffed loudly. "I intend to remove them before getting into the water."

Riley and Fred laughed good-naturedly. "That can't be good for those wounds, but you know best, Jammy," Riley managed. "Just know, it's not my job to fix you up if you get another infection." By now, the men were at the edge of the water.

She was contemplating ducking under the water and quietly swimming away when a voice interrupted.

"Hey! Tom!" Jammy waved enthusiastically and smiled brightly at her. "Had the same idea as we did, I see?"

"Yes," she called back, sure that she was blushing all the way to her navel.

"How's the water?" Riley called, but before she could answer, he dropped his towel and waded into the water. "Damn that's cold!"

_I can see so_, she thought as she turned her burning gaze away from the very naked man. _Avo, just kill me now!_

The splashing increased in volume and when she turned around, the four men were waist-deep in the water, saving her from blushing even further from her innocence. However, she still had no idea how to get out of the water without them seeing her.

Celeste kept her distance as the men ducked under the water and started to scrub themselves into a state of semi-cleanliness, all the while trying to figure out how to avoid getting caught.

"So, Thomas..." Ben drawled as he lazily ran his fingers through his thick mop of now dripping hair. "Are you planning on staying with us when we head to Bowerstone in a few days?"

"Um..." she managed eloquently when her gaze involuntarily trailed over the broad expanse of his slightly hairy, well-defined chest and she felt a heated blush creep up her neck. She was almost sure that she burning up from embarrassment. Apart from a few glances at Logan when they went swimming when they were younger, she'd never seen a man as naked as these men were. She realised that she had to get over her shyness if she was to pretend to be a male, but she was still shocked to see such an obviously beautifully built man.

To save some face before he noticed something was off, she splashed her face with the freezing water as she shrugged one of her partially submerged shoulders. "Yes, that is the plan."

To her horror, just as she finished speaking, Riley came swimming closer to her and she subtly tried to swim deeper into the lake. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately if one took her inexperience with naked men into account, the medic decided to pull himself out of the water to sit on the boulder, granting her a very unwanted view of his anatomy.

"Damn, this water is cold. How do you stand swimming so deep, Tom?" the red-head asked as he used her towel to dry his hair.

She bit back a comment at his actions and instead opted for shrugging again. "It doesn't bother me," she said, her slightly chattering teeth proof that she was lying.

"Leave the poor boy alone, Riley, and leave his things alone," Fred called over his shoulder, already heading to shore. "You can be damn irritating, you know that?"

"Ah, Tom doesn't mind, does he?" Riley called back, still drying his hair.

Celeste was still desperately trying to avert her gaze to a spot that wouldn't ignite a blush when her eye caught the Captain's blond head diving under the water before disappearing from view. She felt a sense of terror grip her chest as she scanned the water for any sign of him, self-consciously crossing her arms even tighter over her bosom.

Just when she was about to blurt out her secret to relieve her of the anxiety, Ben popped out behind Riley and yanked him into the water, dragging her unfortunate towel with them. When Riley surfaced, looking considerably waterlogged, Ben let out a barking laugh and splashed a wave of water in the medic's direction.

"With that amount of awareness, it's a good thing you're not on guard duty too often, Riley. We'd be dead in our beds!" Ben chuckled.

"You're one to talk about awareness, Captain. If the Hollow Men disguised themselves as tavern whores, they'd have you panting at their feet," Riley retorted, tossing the drenched towel back onto the rock. "Sorry about the towel, Tom."

Ben narrowed his eyes at the medic. "I have some standards, mate. At least I don't visit Rosy who does it behind the Riveter every time I set foot in Bowerstone like you do. Even I'm not that desperate."

"Hey!" Riley called indignantly. "That's only happened three times!"

"More like seven!" Jammy added jovially, his bandages finally removed. He entered the water as well and the men continued to bicker about who had been the most desperate. Celeste took this opportunity to grab her things and wrap the soaked towel around her under the water and began to swim to the other shore. Fred had left and the three men were clearly busy. However, just when she was about to risk dashing out of the water to the shore, she heard a cry from behind her.

"Oi! Tom! Where are you dashing off to? Embarrassed?" Riley called, once again swimming towards her. "What was your most desperate...conquest...if you will?"

Instead of replying, she gave a sharp whistle and a flash of black and white came barrelling towards her. She gave her well-trained pet a hidden signal and he swam stealthily and unseen towards the men. All of them whirled away from her when a rather high-pitched yelp pierced the air a few moments after Apollo dove underwater. He'd apparently nipped Riley's foot from the way he started splashing and yelling. She took the distraction Apollo offered and dashed towards the beach and her heap of possessions, quickly teleporting the Sanctuary the moment her hand touched her Guild Seal.

"Welcome, your-" Jasper's eyes widened considerably when they landed on her bedraggled appearance. "What happened, Celeste?"

She marched off to the dressing room and yanked on her clothes behind the partition. "I was taking a bath in the lake as Thomas when a few of the men from the fort decided to do the same." She dragged a brush through her damp hair and reappeared before the horrified looking butler.

"Did they see you?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

"No, thank Avo." She braided her damp hair quickly and tucked away the stray strands of hair that kept falling out. A loud sigh passed over her still chilled lips as she lamented the loss of her hair again before mentally kicking herself. As she continued to struggle, Jasper helped her to pin her hair back and secure her wig to her head. She was just about to head back when she suddenly realised that she couldn't use the same weapons that she usually used. The men might not pay enough attention to her weapons, but someone was bound to notice if Thomas walked around with a Hero Blade and the old queen's Red Dragon.

"I'm proud of you, Highness," he said after a while of silence as she picked out her only other sword so far, Slimquick, and holstered her most recently acquired Bone Smasher pistol. "You'll be a great monarch when the time comes. Just promise me you'll rule as a queen, hm?"

"Of course and thank you, Jasper." She popped onto the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing that."

"Good." Jasper straightened up with a strange smile. "Now get on back to that fort, my dear."

She signed off a mock salute and smiled in return. "Yes, sir."

She reappeared a few steps outside of the main gate behind some foliage. The inside of the fort still looked rather worn down from the fighting and there were more men in graves than on duty. As she hesitantly snuck inside, Major Swift caught her eye and waved her over.

"Good morning, sir," she said courteously, remembering halfway through her sentence to deepen her voice. This resulted in a strange croaking tone that the major only chuckled at.

"Good day, Thomas. I heard from Ben that you had a little run-in at the lake. Everything alright?" he asked carefully.

"Nothing unprecedented, sir," she said with a slight smile as she petted Apollo's still damp head. "It seems Walter's dog is quite well trained." Apollo glanced up at her and gave a low growl. Both she and the major laughed at his seeming understanding and she ruffled his fur again. "Sometimes you are too smart for your own good, boy," she said affectionately before turning her attention back to the tall soldier. "Is there something I can help with, Major?"

Major twirled his moustache in thought before shaking his head. "Not at the moment. We're doing inventory today before leaving in a few days. Are you up to fixing a few crumbling walls?"

She nodded, but before she could reply, the sound of loud laughter interrupted her again. The men that she ran into at the lake were now fully dressed. "Hey! Where did you disappear to, Thomas?" Ben asked, smirking. "Did we embarrass your scholarly innocence?"

"No, I…I…" Fortunately, she was saved from thinking of a reply by Major Swift.

"Ben, I need you to check our ammunition supplies immediately. I need to know how many nights we can last," he commanded, turning to look at all of the men that had just arrived. Celeste was amazed to see Captain Finn quiet down immediately and signed off a salute. "Fred, Jammy, the two of you take Thomas and go see where the walls need mending. Riley, go check your supplies. You've dallied around enough for one morning."

"Sure, Swiftie. I'll get on it right now," Ben said and headed with Riley to the other side of the camp. Celeste trailed after the other two towards where the men were working on the battlements.

They mended the walls as much as they could with the supplies they still had left, but it was meagre improvement at most. Even so, they worked until late in the afternoon. When the final support was placed, the sun was already starting to set.

Celeste dragged a dirty sleeve across her sweaty forehead and leaned against the newly fixed wall behind her as she heaved a sigh and closed her eyes. She wasn't exactly used to manual labour and it showed in the ache of her muscles.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that when someone nudged her shoulder, she jerked viciously and nearly shrieked out loud. When her eyes opened, she saw they laughing cerulean eyes of Captain Finn.

"You tired, Tom?" Ben asked, chuckling as he handed her a rather hard piece of bread and a worn cup of ale. "You better eat something. The hollow men will show up any moment."

She carefully bit into the stale bread and immediately gulped down the ale to help it down her throat.

"Sorry about the bread. It's all we have left." Ben absentmindedly fiddled with the cutlass behind his back as he stared at a point over her shoulder. Celeste felt a sense of embarrassment as he continued to stand there as she tried to force down the bread.

"Um…Can I help you with something, Captain?" she asked after he still hadn't moved. From his far-off expression, it was clear that he was thinking about something else.

At her voice, he looked at her as if really seeing her for the first time. "We better go man the battlements." He started towards the stars, before whirling around. "Wait a minute…I just realised that with the princess, I wasn't exactly paying attention to you the other night. You better with a rifle or a sword?"

"My sword, I guess." She was just about to offer firing from the battlement before realising that Thomas wasn't supposed to know how to use the mortar. "But I'm willing to learn how to use a rifle if you need more firearms. My pistol will be near useless from up there."

The captain seemed to think for a moment before grabbing one of the more worn rifles stacked against the wall of the alcove that functioned as the armory. He inspected it quickly before tossing it in her direction. She almost dropped the considerably more hefty rifle, but managed to hold on to it.

"No time to learn like the present then." The captain headed up the stairs without so much as a glance in her direction. "But the moment I tell you to drop it and help in the yard, you do it, alright?"

"Yes, sir," she managed, swallowing at the lump in her throat. _What have I just gotten myself into?_ She was feeling better about her shooting abilities after her quick lesson with Ben, but the heavy weight of the gun on her hands as she followed the blond captain reminded her that there was a significant difference between her pistol and a rifle.

Ben gave her quick tutorial on how to load and aim, but he was talking too fast for her to follow exactly. Celeste also couldn't help but notice the difference in the way that he treated her as Thomas as compared to when she was dressed as the princess.

Her lesson was brought to a screeching halt when the first skeleton decided to show itself. The captain quickly decapitated it with an almost lazy sighting of his rifle and shot her a grin when he caught her staring.

"Told you I'm the best, Tom. Tonight you get a first row seat to how a weapon ought to be handled!" He smirked again when one of his shots took out three Hollow Men at once. "Well, boy? I'm already four ahead! You'd better hurry if you want to beat me!"

Celeste couldn't help but roll her eyes at his words, but sighted her own borrowed rifle. She was probably even more surprised that Ben when she took down one of the farther enemies.

"Good job, Tom! Seems we found use for you yet, boy!" Ben called jovially as he continued to fire. The attack was markedly less serious than a few nights ago and Celeste allowed herself a bit of fun, even if it was for just a night.

"You haven't seen anything yet, old man!" she countered as she sighted her rifle once again.

_I could learn to like this,_ she thought to herself as she squeezed the trigger.


	7. Unfortunate Revelations

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or followed this story. Very much appreciated!  
_

_____Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it_  


_Chapter 7 : Unfortunate Revelations  
_

"I won last night and you know it, Captain," Tom argued as they trudged through the marsh of Mourningwood.

"You only took out that last one because I already wounded him," Ben countered over his shoulder. It had been a week since Walter and the Princess had set off to Industrial and the Swift Brigade had finally tied up the last things at the fort and was making its way there as well.

Thomas shot him an infuriatingly sweet smile and kicked a rock in his direction. "A kill is a kill, sir." The boy let out a laugh as Ben scooped up the rock and lobbed it back at him.

"You were damn lucky, that's what you were," Ben muttered as he focussed on the road in front of them. They still had little more than a day's march left before they would reach the outskirts of Industrial.

"I thought you didn't believe in luck, Finney," Riley chirped in from behind.

"I never said that I didn't believe in luck, I just said that I'm not exactly blessed in that department." Ben, however, knew enough to know that Thomas' newfound skills with firearms weren't luck in the least. The boy had a natural born talent as pure as Ben had ever seen. It had taken a more than a few mishaps and Tom had added a seven-hundred and fifth injury to Jammy's current tally, but he was shooting as well as the other men in the brigade. However, no matter how good the boy's shooting ability was, Ben was nothing less than amazed at his skills with a blade. For the first time, he started to believe that maybe he truly was Walter's son. After all, the old nut had one of the best sword arms in the realm.

_Luckily for him, he's not as ugly as Sir Wally,_ he chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny, my boy?" Swiftie asked next to him. "It must be quite something to have you chuckling in this dank wood."

Ben clutched his chest melodramatically. "You wound me, Swiftie! You know I'm always to find the bright side of any situation. I was just thinking that no matter how **fond** I've become of the stinking moss-hole, this time tomorrow I'll find myself in a tavern with a fine tankard of ale to warm my belly and an even finer wench to warm my bed," he said with a wink. "I'd think the lads and I deserve a night off?"

The other men raised their voices in clear agreement and a lopsided smile tugged at the Major's lips. "Only if you behave yourselves better than that night in Brightwall, Ben. I think the tavern would still turn you away if you showed up, even if it's five years later."

"What happened in Brightwall?" Tom asked, smiling slightly, but the eagerness was clear in his dark eyes.

_Poor kid, he doesn't even know what he's been missing all those years in the monastery,_ Ben mused as his smirk grew wider at the memory.

"Let's just say it involved the owner's private stores and the very strong thighs of his not so innocent daughter," Ben said with a meaningful look. Riley and Jammy let out a roar of laughter and Ben could probably have cooked his breakfast on the burning face of the brigade's newest addition. "But don't worry, Tom. Industrial women are just as fine as Brightwall's, if you know where to look and if you're willing to overlook a few…flaws. We'll find you a wench of your own." Ben clapped the still furiously blushing boy on his shoulder before marching forward, grinning.

"Oh…that's alright," Thomas stammered, but the Riley and Ben wasn't stopped in the least.

"Come on, Tommy, how old are you?" Riley chuckled. "It's about time you found yourself a woman!"

Ben laughed as well. "Like Rosy, Riley? You probably can't wait to introduce us."

"Shut up, Finney," the medic huffed, his ears growing red. "If you're so accomplished, you can introduce her to some of your friends. Of course, that's if any of them can stand to see you after you ran out in the middle of the night."

They continued marching and bantering all the way to the outskirts of the village. By the time they set up camp, the sun was already dipping past the horizon.

Ben had just finished doing his rounds when he saw Thomas sitting against one of the giant trees, staring into the distance as his fingers absentmindedly ran through his dog's fur and he fiddled with that pocket watch of his. Most of the men had gotten used to the boy sitting on his own and didn't particularly see a point in trying to talk to him, with Ben, Riley, Jammy and occasionally even Fred being the exceptions.

Since Ben wasn't even close to settling down, he decided to go talk to him. Even though Tom was rather quiet, Ben found his stories rather interesting and, to tell the truth, he was a bit curious about the boy. He was so unlike most of the other men he'd known.

"What are you thinking about, Tom?" Ben chirped jovially as he plopped down next to the light-haired youth. He handed Tom a piece of dried meat and tossed a piece of his own in front of the mutt as an afterthought. The dog gratefully gobbled it up and regarded him with a begging expression that was so human that Ben had to remind himself that he was a dog.

"Don't mind Apollo. He mastered begging by the time that he was a pup, but he realised early on that it doesn't work on me," Thomas said, smiling as he tore a strip of meat and fed it to his pet. "Walter on the other hand…"

"Why are you looking after him? I thought he was Walter's dog."

Thomas patted Apollo's head affectionately. "Oh, he is, but for some reason he likes me much more than him. Besides, he didn't want him to go with him to Industrial. He wanted me to have some sort of added protection."

"And he left you a dog?" Ben's eyebrow rose in question as he smirked. "What help is a mutt?" At this, Apollo let out a low growl, but Ben merely laughed.

"You'd be surprised how dangerous his bite can be. I've seen him take down mercenaries twice **my **size."

"That is not exactly an achievement." Ben thought for a moment as he chewed on his dinner. "I had a dog once," he said carefully. "Nothing as noble as Walter's dog here, of course. It was a scraggly stray bitch that we found next to the road one day, skinnier than a twig. We barely had food to feed ourselves, but somehow we found something to feed her every now and then."

"What happened to her?" Thomas asked carefully.

Ben shrugged. "The dog loved Jason most out of all of us. When he died, she refused to eat anything and sat in front of the house, waiting for him to come home, we supposed. One day, she just went into the woods and didn't come back." He continued to chew thoughtfully. "I never did like dogs after that."

They continued to sit in silence for a while as they ate their meagre supper. Finally, Thomas broke the quiet.

"Might I ask…something about your family?" he asked, staring into the distance once more.

After the long walk, he wasn't particularly in the mood to dredge up old memories. Also, he wasn't one to talk about his family more than what was mentioned in his manuscript. He was content to let the dead rest. "I'll considering answering when I hear the question," he settled for answering.

"Were you and your brothers…close? I mean did you have other friends, or..." He trailed off, still avoiding his gaze.

A loud sigh passed over his lips as he crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back. "They were my brothers. Sometimes I wanted to kill them, but I would also have killed for them. Gunk didn't have too many other children our age. There were a few girls, but I was young and still thought them particularly strange and avoided them. I spend most of the time trailing after them and you know the rest." He glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye. "Do you have any siblings?"

"An…older brother," Thomas answered slowly. "But we don't talk anymore."

"Alright, I answered your question. Why don't the two of you talk anymore?"

"We had a bit of a…disagreement."

Ben frowned as he turned to look at him. "Not to sound judgemental, but that doesn't sound like a reason to stop talking to your family. I would give anything to fight with any one of my brother's again."

Thomas fixed him with his intense azure gaze. "You don't exactly understand, Captain. What he did…it wasn't something that I can just forgive that easily." He looked at his hands again. "On the one hand I want to talk to him, he's my brother, after all, but on the other…I don't even know what he thinks of me anymore, but I still love him…Yet…I don't know if I can ever forgive him."

"I-." He was stopped from continuing the rather depressing conversations by Jammy.

"Hey, Captain. Tom," he said, nodding his head in their direction. "Captain, Swiftie's looking for you."

"Fine. See you later, Tom," he said and hurried to his feet. At least this meant he could get away from what was probably doomed to be a trip down miserable memory avenue.

Celeste stared after the retreating captain with a sigh. She couldn't help but realise that she was annoying him with her train of thought, but she couldn't stop herself. Ben was very interesting to listen to and she'd always been partial to a good story. Yet, there it was clear that something was bothering him and she wondered what brought on his sudden retreat.

_The mysterious thing isn't exactly helping his already handsome image,_ she thought shamefully to herself, almost blushing. She was so busy conversing with herself that she hadn't noticed that Jammy was still standing in front of her with his arms crossed, frowning.

"Can I help you, Jammy?" she asked tentatively, trying to read his face in the dim firelight. He was being uncharacteristically serious.

"You're…" He scratched at one of the bandages around his forehead, seemingly deep in thought. "You're a girl," he whispered finally.

"What!" Celeste leapt to her feet and glanced around to see if there was anyone around to overhear him. "H-How can you say that?" she managed, trying to school her face into a smile of disbelief. "That's quite an insult, Jammy."

Jammy's frown deepened even further. "I'm not an idiot. You're always sneaking off your own. Besides, you've never bathed with us and I've never once seen you take a piss."

"And that makes me a girl?" she hissed, pulling him closer to her. Jammy didn't reply and only crooked his singed eyebrow. Sighing loudly, Celeste yanked him deeper into the darkness. "Fine! You're right! But you can't tell anyone, please," she hurried out in her normal voice. "They can't find out who I am. Please."

Jammy actually looked surprised when she confirmed his suspicion before breaking into a smile. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. Especially Captain Finn," he said with a wink. "Wouldn't want him figuring out that his little admirer is actually a girl."

"That has nothing to do with this!" She eyed him sternly. "If anyone finds out who I am, my life could be in danger, Jammy."

"And who is that?" he asked, his eyes wide and Celeste almost laughed out loud. The innocent expression in his eyes showed that he was actually serious. He'd managed to figure out that she was a woman, but he couldn't piece together the rest. Maybe she was still safe for now.

"No one. It's better if you don't know," she managed after a while of silence. Celeste was just about to head back to her bedroll, mentally scolding herself for not being more careful, when she saw Jammy's eyes widen even further.

"The princess!" he practically cried. Cursing violently in her head, she nearly tackled the bandaged soldier into the tree and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up! Are you daft?" she hissed into his ear. "I asked you to keep quiet!" Finally, she backed off and stared him down, narrowing her eyes as much as she could. Maybe he would actually be intimidated enough to keep her identity a secret.

"Your-Your Highness," he stuttered, falling into a sloppy bow. "I'm so sorry-"

"Shut up!" she cut him off, very aware that some people were looking their way. "As far as you're concerned I'm still Thomas, alright? Not a girl and definitely not the princess."

"Yes, your Highness-"

"Thomas," she hissed again, glaring at him with a fierceness she didn't know she possessed. "Please."

"Yes…Thomas," Jammy managed, nodding vigorously. "Sorry."

She sighed and ran a hand through her wig as she took a step back. "It's fine. I apologize for tackling you, Jammy."

The soldier merely nodded again. "Can…I ask why?" he asked after a while of awkward silence.

She considered telling him that it was none of his business, but she already felt a twinge of guilt for the way she reacted when he caught her out. Besides, a part of her was glad to finally confide in someone. "Walter thought that it was the best way to avoid Logan's men who are looking for me." She chuckled dryly to herself. "I hate to admit it, but I think he might have been right. As loyal as these men are to Major Swift, I couldn't help but notice that some of them might not hesitate to offer me up to the men hunting me it they were offered enough gold."

"You…are not wrong," he admitted after a while. "So, is it just you, Walter and Major Swift who know?"

"Yes. Plus you."

"So the Captain really thinks you're a man?"

She narrowed her eyes to hide the blush creeping up her neck. "What's your point, Jammy?"

"I was just wondering," he said defensively, throwing up his hands. "I just meant that if he knew you were a girl-"

"Jammy!" she snapped and he immediately apologized again.

"He wouldn't be so…We wouldn't be so…" He trailed off, practically flailing his arms and Celeste had to bite back a smile, a faint idea of what he was talking about already in her mind.

"You're men, Jammy, I understand. Just…don't involve me next time, alright?" she said, shooting him a faint smile. "And, if you'll excuse me, it's been a long day and tomorrow I'll be back to switching clothes, so I need my rest."

He blinked a few times before nodding. "Sure thing, Highness," he whispered, shooting her an awkward wink.

"Goodnight, Jammy," Celeste said and shot him a bright smile before heading to her bedroll. As she settled onto the hard ground, she couldn't help but realise that she had to be a lot more careful, otherwise everyone was going to know her secret pretty soon.


	8. Arriving in Industrial

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or followed this story. Very much appreciated!_

_Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it_

_Chapter 8: Arriving in Industrial_

"Smell that, men? That's the smell of civilisation!" Ben called loudly when they exited the sewer that led from Mourningwood into Bowerstone Industrial, a giant smile on his handsome face.

Celeste rolled her eyes as she bit back a smile. "Smoke, rotting something and what I believe is urine? If that's your idea of civilisation, Captain, you're either delusional or lying about the amount of travel you've done," she chirped up. Captain Finn smiled even wider and shot her a wink.

"When you've been in that marsh for as long as I have, anything seems civilised, Tommy," he replied. "Now where's the nearest tavern?"

"You'd better keep your men in line if you want them to keep their heads, Swiftie," a voice growled from behind. Celeste barely managed to curb the urge to give her mentor a huge hug when she recognised Walter's gruff face. However, she couldn't help but notice that his mouth was set into a grim line. "Industrial isn't what it used to be."

"No more whores and drink, Wally?" Ben joked, but Walter merely shot him an angry look.

"Shut up, Ben. Thomas, you're with me. Swiftie, try to keep these idiots alive," the old man huffed before turning on his heel and heading in the opposite direction. Celeste had to jog to keep up with his brisk pace.

As they turned down an alley, Celeste barely managed to stop from crashing into Walter who had suddenly turned around and pulled her into a rib-bruising hug.

"Walter…I…can't…breathe," she managed to choke out and Walter set her down on her feet.

"I am so very glad to see you unhurt, Celeste," Walter said, the slightest hint of a tremble in his tone.

"Did you think something would happen to me, Walter?" she asked gently, smiling. "As you can see, I'm fine."

"Good." The old man gruffly cleared his throat and straightened up. "Now, back to business. I finally managed to find out where this Resistance is located. They weren't too accepting to newcomers, but I've gotten one so far as to tell me where they are located. Are you ready to meet them?"

"Why not?" Celeste shrugged and scratched at her wig. "Does that mean I can finally dress normally as well?"

"Go ahead, I'll wait."

A quick trip to the Sanctuary, Celeste returned to Industrial wearing her practical princess suit, her bangs pinned out of her eyes and the rest of her freshly washed hair curled lightly onto her shoulders. She'd never been so happy to wear a skirt, even if it was such a poor example of one.

Walter's eyes widened considerably when she appeared before him. "Huh. You're back. It seems I'm a bit out of practice with that Sanctuary of yours."

Celeste shot him a bright smile. "Stopping time certainly is fun," she said with a wink. "Now where are we off to first?"

"This way."

Celeste watched in awe at the scene that Industrial offered. Elliot had told her that the situation was terrible, but as she wasn't allowed to leave the castle grounds, she couldn't check for herself. She was shocked to see what her brother had allowed to happen to the people supposedly under his care.

"Bloody horrible, isn't it?" Walter said, his voice interrupting her thoughts.

"How…did it get to this, Walter?" she asked quietly.

Walter's large shoulder's quirked into a shrug as he kept on marching. "Logan placed Industrial into the care of Reaver. You can see for yourself what that entails."

"But why?" Ever since he'd become king, her conversations with Logan had been about anything but the rule of the kingdom. He'd said that he didn't want to worry her, but she had known better. It had gotten even worse ever since he'd come back from his trip. "I don't understand."

"Money? Laziness? I don't know, Celeste." Walter sighed heavily. "But it's not going to improve anytime soon unless we do something."

They continued walking in silence as Celeste continued to mull over her thoughts. Her days with the Swift Brigade had kept her mind of things for a few days, but she was now firmly shoved back into the Revolution.

Celeste was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Walter stopping until she slammed into him.

"That idiot is going to get himself killed," he muttered as he pulled her behind a wall. She peeked around the corner at where a crowd of people were gathered. One of the men was standing in a pedestal and calling out to the crowd to stand up against the abuse they suffered under Reaver.

A flash of white caught her eye on the upper balcony and she was faced with the sight of a rather young looking man in a white, fur-lined suit and a very high top hat. It didn't take very much for her to recognise the mogul named Reaver. She'd often seen him lounging around the castle as if he owned it and when he spoke to her, she could feel her flesh crawling with repulsiveness. One thing that redeemed him slightly is that he never seemed to be very interested in her. He'd always seemed to prefer the serving girls or maids, not that she particularly minded.

When her thoughts returned to the present, she was surprised to see that the man was still talking and Reaver was still simply looking at him. The only thing more unsettling than the cool smirk that he wore was the almost lazy way with which he was appraising the man who was speaking. She was just about to suggest leaving when Reaver suddenly pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the man. Before she could cry out a warning, he pulled the trigger. Celeste turned her face into Walter's doublet as she heard the man cry in pain and Reaver loudly "encouraging" his workers, followed by several more gunshots. When she was sure it was over, she allowed herself to look at the now thankfully dead man.

"Are you well, Celeste? I'd have thought you'd be better with this by now," Walter said, his expression stern. "You're going to have to deal with this without cringing eventually."

She looked up at him with surprise. One thing she never expected criticism about from Walter was that she was too sensitive. From childhood, the one thing he always carried on about was that she should never stop caring about people.

"V-Very well, Walter," she managed, nodding slightly. Celeste hated disappointing the old knight. "Where to next?"

"I think it's time to head to the headquarters," he said lowly, already heading into the direction they were heading in initially. After a short trip through more than a few winding alleyways, they finally reached a very non-descript looking door.

Celeste carefully stepped in behind Walter as he entered what seemed to be sewer from the smell.

"Oh, goodness," she choked out, pinching her nose close as they headed in even deeper into the canals. "Are you sure this is the right place, Walter? I can't believe anyone could stand more than a few minutes here."

Walter's brow furrowed into a look that she recognised as extreme concentration. "I'm sure he said to turn right," he muttered, obviously in thought. "Though he was drunk…"

The rebel princess let out an embarrassingly high shriek as something skittered over her foot. Apollo barked loudly and ran after the offending creature with his tail wagging happily.

"Apollo! Get back here!" Celeste called after the collie, but he seemed to have no intent to return. Even so, she wasn't particularly worried. Apollo was always wandering around and always found his way back to her. "How much further, Walter?"

"Almost there," he said for what seemed to be the umpteenth time. Celeste couldn't help but notice that the crease in his brow was deepening with every unsuccessful turn they took.

Just as she was about to carefully suggest that they turn back, she found herself staring down the barrels of several guns.

"Stop right there!" one of the men yelled. "Explain what you're doing here before I shoot you." Celeste and Walter both put their hands in the air and she shot him a quick look, silently asking him if she should retaliate with an attack. Walter shook his head in reply and casually took a step so that he stood slightly in front of her.

"This is Princess Celeste. We're here to speak to Page, your leader," Walter said. He started to lower his hands, but one of the men closest to them jabbed his bayonet so that it was mere centimetres from his nose.

"Men, fire on my command," the first man said and Celeste started to reach for her weapon when Walter grabbed her arm again. The gruff soldier opened his mouth to say something more when a voice from the back of the room interrupted him.

"Kidd! What are you doing?! Did you forget who gives orders around here?" The voice was followed by the entrance of a tall, dark-skinned woman. She was easily one of the most striking women Celeste had ever seen and she could see from the way that most of the men immediately retreated that she was the leader of the Resistance in Bowerstone.

"Page!" the first man stuttered without lowering his weapon. "These intruders-"

The woman, Page, interrupted him swiftly with a wave of her hand. "He said she's the princess. She's worth more to Logan alive than dead."

"I want to help!" Celeste blurted out, taking a step forward. She couldn't believe that these people were considering handing her over to her brother. "I'm a Hero, I can-"

Her voice failed her when she was met with Page's fierce gaze. "We don't need a "Hero". We need your brother off of that throne and Reaver gone, preferably dead," she said, her voice dripping with acid. "I don't care who your mother was and I don't care about some prissy, spoiled princess playing soldier. Get out now or I will hand you over to the guard."

Celeste reeled back as if slapped. None of the people she'd tried recruiting had been immediately receptive, but none had insulted her like this. Even Sabine had been more tactful.

"Page, when we corresponded, you said that you would appreciate any sort of aid we could offer," Walter said gruffly. "Celeste is the best resource you could ask for."

"I didn't mean for you to bring the fugitive princess to our doorstep!" Page snapped. "The entirety of Albion is looking for her and they'll definitely find us now! Did you even make sure you weren't followed?"

"Can we speak in private, Page?" Celeste asked quietly when she saw all the angry glances from the men around the room. "I wish to explain my motives."

Page let out a loud sigh and motioned for the men to stand down. "Fine. Follow me."

Celeste glanced around discreetly as the spitfire of a rebel leader lead them down a corridor. She was surprised to see how many people was actually part of the Resistance. In a way, the atmosphere in the sewers was very similar to that of Mourningwood - obviously worn-out men with grim faces littering a dilapidated building.

She was yanked out of her thoughts when Page shut the heavy metal door behind them. "Alright. Talk," she snapped, crossing her arms.

To Celeste's immense surprise, Walter stepped backward and motioned for her to speak. A flash of pride warmed her heart. It said a lot that Walter seemed to trust her enough to speak for herself for once.

"It's obvious that you don't put much faith in Heroes," Celeste started slowly. "And I can understand that. You have people to think about and to believe in some old legend probably is too much to ask for-"

"You're damn right it is," Page interrupted. "I need weapons, men and gold. Not some girl who'd never even left the castle until now."

Celeste couldn't stop the irritated sigh that passed over her lips. She wasn't getting particularly fond of this lady. "Can I at least **try** to help? What can I do to prove to you that I want to help? Just give me a chance to prove to you that I am a Hero and capable of leading this Revolution!" she said in a forceful tone that surprised even her. "I've proven to the Dwellers of Mistpeak, the town of Brightwall, as well as the Swift Brigade that I can be trusted to do this!"

If Page was even the slightest bit taken aback by her vehement speech, it didn't show on her face. "You don't need to prove anything to me. You need to prove to the people of Industrial that you can handle this responsibility," she said after a while of silence. "When you've done that, we can speak again."

It was clear that that offer was the most that the rebel leader was going to give the princess. "Very well. I'll come see you once I've done my part."

"Good. Now get out. Walter, I need to speak to you for a minute," Page said and turned towards the map in the center of the room. Celeste merely bit her lip in annoyance at the clear sign of dismissal and headed back outside. The annoyance disappeared almost immediately when she saw her faithful collie playing with one of the rebels. At the sound of the door opening, Apollo immediately turned his attention to her and bounded in her direction.

"Hi there, boy," she laughed and ruffled his fur. "Come on. We've got work to do."

"That's a good dog you have there, Princess." Celeste looked up from the dog to see that the man that was playing with Apollo had been the man that ordered his comrades to shoot them. Kidd, if she remembered correctly. "I'm…sorry for what happened earlier."

She forced a smile onto her face even though she was still a bit angry about earlier. No time like the present to begin with her assignment. "No need to fret, sir. It'll take more than a gun in my face to scare us. After all, we weren't exactly welcome."

Kidd rubbed the back of his head in obvious discomfort. "Still. I've got to apologise."

"Apology accepted. Now if you'll excuse me?"

He nodded quickly. "Of course. I'll see you around, Princess."

oOoOoOo

After a short discussion with Walter in their newly rented rooms in the Riveter's Rest, they decided that they should go their separate ways so that they could do more work. Celeste could help the people and Walter would…do whatever he did when she wasn't around.

Of course, he had one condition for her to go off on her own.

"The plan was so that I prove myself as a Hero to the people. Last time I checked, Princess Celeste is not a man," Celeste argued for what felt like the umpteenth time.

Walter, however, was still unconvinced. "We are in the middle of Industrial, **Thomas**," he stressed. "We are not having this discussion anymore. Now go ask Major Swift if he's heard of anyone who needs help. The soldiers have been scouting all day."

She opened her mouth to continue arguing, but Walter fixed her with a look so stern that she felt her voice die in her throat. "Very well," she managed. "I'll go."

"Ben's downstairs. You'd better hurry before he gets distracted."

After a quick trip to the Sanctuary to get dressed, she headed downstairs.

"Tom, hey," Ben called from his booth in the corner. "Where've you been all day?"

Celeste at down with a sigh and forced a smile. "Trudging around with Walter and the princess. You?"

Ben leaned back onto his arms and shot her a lazy smile. "I've been here all day, of course. Those members of the Rebellion as weary as I think they are?"

She stared down at her hands. "I guess they are. Their leader certainly is more difficult than I thought she'd be. I'm glad I wasn't the princess."

The captain took a weary drink from his mug. "That's exactly what we need. Another male who needs to assert his dominance."

"Actually, he is a she. Her name is Page."

Celeste felt a real smile tug at her lips at the way his eyes instantly lit up. "A women? Interesting. I will have to make a plan to meet this lovely leader of men," he said and thoughtfully stroked his stubbled chin.

"What makes you think she's lovely? Maybe she weighs a hundred stone and has a more impressive beard than Walter," she joked. It amazed her that Ben managed to cheer her up so easily.

Ben let out a slight chuckle. "Well, I will still have to meet her then, don't I? Only if to compare beards."

"But back to the issue at hand, Captain. Walter told me you were gathering information all day."

A blond eyebrow quirked in mock annoyance. "I was. The best source of information happens to be pubs."

"Did you find out anything useful?"

Ben slid a piece of parchment with his almost illegible scribble over it. "A few leads, but they'll only be helpful from tomorrow."

"Oh." She couldn't help but sigh as she got to her feet. "Well, I guess I will have to go to bed early. Thank you for your time, Captain."

Her departure, however, was interrupted by Ben's voice. "Whoa there, Tom. The rest of the brigade is coming in about an hour for drinks. Why don't you join us? It'll be an experience, I promise."

Celeste felt a hint of apprehension, but she'd come to like the men of the brigade. _After all, it might be a good experience for me so that I can learn some new about how to act._

"Very well. What's the worst that can happen?" she said and sat down with a smile.


	9. I Never

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or followed this story. Very much appreciated!_

_Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it. _

_Chapter 9_

"So, Riley…Have you seen Rosy yet?" Ben asked before taking a swig of his drink. About ten of the men had showed up and they were currently crowded around one table close to breaking under the strain of the mugs of ale.

"For your information, I was working," Riley snapped.

"So…yes," Jammy chipped in and the table burst out laughing. Celeste took a tiny sip of the rather stale ale, smiling. While most of the other men were already well into their third mug of ale, Celeste had barely drunk half of her own mug.

Her initial apprehension had run out the door after the first half hour. It was strange, but it seemed that the men were so much more relaxed now that they were out of Mourningwood. Even Fred who rarely even smiled was laughing openly along with his comrades.

"And you, Finney? I saw that girl you headed upstairs with earlier. Let's just say that girl made Rosy look a princess," Riley retorted.

"Jealous, Riley?" Ben, as usual, showed no sign of embarrassment. "Greg was shy so I took her upstairs for him."

The scrawny dark-haired man named Gregory nervously cleared his throat. "He's telling the truth."

Celeste sat back in contentment as the men continued to banter and insult each other. No matter how long she'd spent in their company, Celeste still couldn't understand why they talked to one another in that way.

"Alright, alright!" Riley cried after what seemed like an age of ridicule. "Can we please talk about something else?"

To Celeste's immense horror, Ben focussed his eyes blue eyes on her. "How about that what Thomas did today? It seems our young friend here got to meet the rebel leader," he said almost too casually.

Immediately all eyes were on her. "That wasn't anything special. After all, she spoke with the princess alone, not me-"

"She?" Riley spluttered, spraying ale over everyone across from him. "The leader is a woman?!"

"Why do you all act so surprised that she's a woman?" Celeste asked almost exasperatedly. "The princess is a woman, Queen Sparrow was a woman. Why can't the rebel leader be a woman?"

Ben and Riley chuckled heartily before the blond captain answered. "We're not surprised, we find it interesting. Men find powerful women very attractive," Ben said with a wink.

"Exactly. Have you seen the portrait of Queen Raina before she died? It's criminal that a woman well into her forties was that attractive," Riley added. "I certainly wouldn't have minded guarding her bedroom."

Celeste could feel warmth creep up her neck. She didn't know whether it was from anger or embarrassment. However, she managed to keep her tongue in check.

"Must be her Hero blood. I've seen pictures of Briar Rose in the books in the Brightwall Academy…That was one attractive lady," Gregory said.

Ben nodded in agreement as he downed the rest of his drink. "Why do you think I wanted to meet the Heroes of old as a young boy?" Ben said with a cheeky grin. "It's unfortunate that that particular brand of loveliness seemed to have passed over our rebellion leader's generation."

"She's not horrid looking," Riley chipped in. "She is quite attractive in a sort of shy, sweet sort of way."

The heat in her cheeks flared up again and she drank deeply from her mug to hide her face. Lucky for her, however, Jammy came to her rescue.

"Let's not be disrespectful here," Jammy said quickly and shot her a not so hidden look. "She is our future queen, after all."

"You're just jealous that you can't look around, Jammy," Fred said with a dismissive wave. "Your wife scares even me."

Celeste looked at the bandaged soldier in surprise. "You're married, Jammy?"

"Yes, I am," he said proudly. "A year next week."

"You must miss her," Celeste said with a sympathetic smile.

For a moment, Celeste forgot that she was surrounded by army men. "There's only one thing about her that he missed," Trevor said with a crude laugh and her face flamed up with a new surge of embarrassment. Jammy, for his part, came to her defence again.

"I happen to miss a lot about her, Trevor. Especially her cooking. If I eat another bite of Captain Finn's rabbit stew, I might just die," Jammy retorted quickly.

As the men took up another round of bantering, Celeste shot Jammy a small smile of thank you which he returned with a wide smirk of his own.

Ben looked at his mug with a frown. "I'm not getting drunk quickly enough. Why don't we play a game that we used to play when we were kids. Only, now we're old enough to play it with alcohol," Ben suggested after a while of conversation. "It's simple enough. We go around stating things that we've never done and then those who have done it, drinks."

"Sounds simple enough," Riley said. "I'll go first. I've never…gone to Mistpeak."

Almost half of the men including Celeste took a drink from their mugs.

"The idea is to find out embarrassing things about the others," Ben said after his drink. "Like this. I've never had **three** women spend the night with me at once."

Without thinking, Celeste took a long drink from her mug. After all, she had had a few friends spend the night when she was younger. When she put down the mug, she noticed the table of men staring at her with emotions of mixed wonder and shock. Jammy even spat his mouthful of ale across the table.

_Oh, Avo! He meant…like…sexually!_ she realised with a shock and she felt heat creep up her neck again. _Why didn't I…I'm an idiot!_

"Tom. You misled us with all that monks from Samarkand crap," Fred said and raised his mug in a sign of what seemed to respect. "Ben, seems you've been dethroned."

The blond captain swallowed audibly before seemingly regaining his composure. "Just give me till the end of the night," he said, obviously forcing a smirk onto his face.

If Celeste hadn't been so absolutely horrified by her mistake, she would have felt proud of herself for eliciting shock from the usually collected Captain Finn. "Yes, well, I don't want to talk about it. I'll go next," she managed through her dry throat as she tried to find an innocent topic. "I've never been on a ship before."

Ben, Trevor and Riley took a drink and everyone looked around the table for the next volunteer.

"Alright," Jammy sniffed and scratched the bandage around his head. "I've never did it with a man."

Even though she was constantly reminding herself that she was supposed to be a man, Celeste found a sense of relief that she didn't have to drink due to a warped sense of honour. Much to Elliot's chagrin, even he hadn't managed to get that far with her.

Derek and Frank, the only two openly gay men in the brigade, proudly downed the last of their drinks before signalling for another round.

The drinking game grew more vulgar and embarrassing into the night and Celeste was thankful that she didn't have to drink much after her slip up. The rest of the men, however, weren't so lucky. That, unfortunately, meant that she was getting to learn the brigade on a much more intimate level than she intended.

"Ish your turn, Benny," Riley slurred and almost spilled the rest of his tankard onto Gregory, who was lying facedown on the table.

"Who's left?" Ben had easily drunk the most out of all the soldiers and Celeste was surprised to see how well he was handling his liquor. He was by no means sober, but he wasn't passed out yet. "It's no fun if it's just us three. Fred stopped playing already."

The aforementioned soldier merely tipped his tankard in their direction with a smile. "I don't care for a hangover tomorrow."

"Alright." With that, Riley downed the rest of his drink and stood up. Unfortunately for the redheaded medic, it seemed the alcohol seemed to be too much for him and he promptly slumped to the ground to join Trevor under the table.

"Well, that's my cue to leave," Fred said and headed to his feet. "Thomas, Captain," he said with a salute and headed upstairs.

Celeste tried to follow suite, but Ben grabbed her arm and pulled her down into her seat. "Now listen here, Tom. We're both going to get us some ladies. Those wenches over at the bar had been eyeing this table all night. You in?"

"No thank you," she stammered, but to her dismay, Ben had already signalled to the two ladies at the bar to come to their table. "Really, Captain, I'm fine. You can-"

"Nonsense." He fixed a heart-melting grin onto his face as the two buxom barmaids neared the table. "Hello there, ladies. Can we offer to buy you some ale?"

One of the girls promptly fell down onto Ben's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. It seemed that the brigade weren't the only ones who had spent the night drinking their troubles away.

"O, Sweety, I think I'm in the mood for something with a bit more substance," she giggled in an irritatingly high tone. Her friend giggled as well before seating herself on Celeste's lap. "How about you, Daisy?"

"It's been a long time since such good-looking men passed through here," the girl named Daisy added.

Without a moment of warning, the girl on Ben's lap smashed her lips against his and from Celeste's point of view it looked as if she was trying to swallow him whole. Ben, for his part, didn't look particularly upset about what was happening.

For the briefest moment, Celeste was both appalled and infuriated. How could a woman just kiss a man without even knowing his name? Apart from that, she felt the faintest twinge when he'd kissed the barmaid. On the one hand, she couldn't be surprised. Ben had said that she wasn't as attractive as her mother, after all. But on the other hand, she didn't think herself **that** unattractive. The girl in his lap certainly wasn't particularly pretty. How could he just-

A giggle from the girl on her lap brought her back to the present. Before Daisy could do the same, however, Celeste shoved her off and scramble to her feet. After a stammered apology, she headed upstairs and slammed the door behind her.

"Avo's grace," she muttered and yanked the wig off of her head. Her head still reeling, she pulled on her nightgown and crawled under the covers. Despite the fact that she was almost found out and her thoughts were filled with confused feelings about the captain kissing the girl, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

oOoOoOo

"Bloody hell, Ben, you look terrible," Walter laughed as the dishevelled captain stumbled down the steps to join him, Celeste and Major Swift outside the pub. "Hard night?"

"I didn't get much sleep," Ben said with a wink before he yawned loudly. Celeste sighed to herself and looked in the other direction. She was still a bit miffed about what had happened last night. "If you see Tom, tell him I said thanks. His departure was timed perfectly."

"How so?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Ben shot her a sly smile. "Now, Princess, that's not something I should discuss in polite company."

The heat of a blush crept up her neck and she turned away once again. "Are we all set now?"

Major Swift gave her a glance out of the corner of his eye. From his expression, it was clear he'd noticed something was wrong. "Yes," he said clearing his throat. "Now that Ben's made his delayed appearance, we can get started."

"Yes." Walter cleared his throat loudly. "Ben, you and Swift are going to see if you can drum up any support from the locals. Celeste'll go follow up on those leads you found yesterday and I'm going to see if I can't convince some of my old friends to join us. We clear?"

The other three nodded in reply before heading their separate ways. Celeste decided to go hear how she could help the man who'd lost his ring. In her current mood, it would be better to start small.

oOoOoOo

Over the weeks, Celeste's small good deeds gradually grew until she was confident that she'd established herself as a new Hero for the people of Bowerstone. Unfortunately, the rebellion leader wasn't so convinced.

"You've done better than I expected, Princess. Unfortunately, I'm not completely sure of you yet. However, I have an idea of how you can get one step closer to me trusting you," Page said as they gathered around the war table. "Also, you'll do me a favour."

Celeste bit back a sigh at the rebel leader's words. Her fondness for Page hadn't exactly grown during her time spent in Bowerstone. "What do you need?" she asked instead.

Page seemed to rethink her offer before meeting Celeste's eyes. "One of your brother's followers in Millfields kidnapped our blacksmith. You need to go get him."

A frown crossed over Celeste's face. "Why…why does this man have him instead of him being in the dungeons?"

"The man who has him is his uncle or something of the sort. We suspect he's working up the courage to hand him over," Page replied. "All that means is that you don't have a lot of time. You need to go tonight. The man is hosting a ball and we've acquired a servant outfit for you to wear."

"Dear Page, you can't mean for her to go alone now, can you?" came a voice from the door. Celeste turned around to see Captain Finn and Major Swift standing there. "After all, she's not exactly accustomed to breaking and entering," Ben continued, smirking.

"And I assume you are, Soldier?" Page asked sarcastically. Ben merely shot her a wink in reply and sauntered closer.

"I'll be fine on my own," Celeste argued, folding her arms angrily. "I don't need a babysitter."

"No harm in having a little back-up, Celeste," Walter interrupted, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"Then it's settled. I'll meet you at the gate around sunset, Princess," Ben said, still smirking.

With a poorly masked sigh, Celeste threw her hands up into the air in irritation and stalked out the door. The others were so busy discussing the plan with Ben that they didn't even notice her absence. Not that she was particularly bothered.

_More time for me to do something useful,_ she thought as headed to the house where someone had requested help.

oOoOoOo

Ben sauntered out of the sewers, whistling merrily. From the princess's rapid disappearance, he'd surmised that she wasn't particularly pleased with him, but he found himself unable to care. Even if their relationship wasn't particularly strong at the moment, he felt a certain sense of protectiveness towards her. After all, he was bound to her cause, so he might as well keep her from getting herself killed.

Ben quickly found himself near the docks. His thoughts were interrupted by a shout for help when he passed one of darker alleys. A rather feminine scream sounded again and he unholstered his rifle, carefully creeping towards the sound of the cry. Sure enough, he saw a young woman being harassed by two rather burly men at the far end of the alley.

"Get off of me, you filth!" she spat and lashed out against one of the men reaching for her. The man merely laughed and shoved her against the wall, her hands above her head.

"Oi, come on, sweetheart," one of the men slurred. "No need to be nasty." The woman kicked out on of her feet and managed to make contact where no man wants to be kicked. He let out a howl of pain before the other one grabbed her again.

"These men harassing you, miss?" Ben called, raising his firearm at the man in question.

"I don't need your help," she called back, struggling against his hold to no avail.

"Get out of here, pal. No business of yours what a whore does to her customers," the man still holding his groin said.

The woman started struggling anew. "I'm not a whore, you arse!" She turned her head towards Ben and he was surprised to see that she was remarkably beautiful. "On second thought, these men could use a few holes in their heads."

Before Ben could pull the trigger, one of the bigger men lunged at him and managed to knock the rifle out of his hands. Ben, however, quickly managed to retaliate with a swift punch to the man's nose, followed by a knock to the side of his head. Soon enough, the man crumpled down into a heap on the floor.

It seemed Ben offered all the distraction the girl needed, because as soon as he was busy with the man who attacked him, she managed to wiggle free and sweep the legs out from under her assailant. The man went down with a surprised cry and before he could manage to get up, the woman yanked a knife out from under her skirts and held it against his neck.

"You ever come near me or I see you with any other woman again and I swear I'll castrate you, do you understand?" she hissed and Ben saw the man's eyes widen. The woman certainly didn't seem as vulnerable as she did a few minutes ago.

She got to her feet and shot the man a vicious look. "Now get out of here before I change my mind."

The man quickly scrambled to his feet and shot one look at his downed compatriot before running in the other direction. The man on the ground wasn't near any state to get to his feet, so Ben decided to check on the rather impressive woman.

"You alright, love?" he asked as he slung his rifle over his back.

"I'm fine." The woman in question shot him a coy smile as she ran her hands through her thoroughly mussed up blonde hair, her hazel eyes twinkling playfully. "Didn't need your help, but I'm not going to deny that I appreciate it."

Ben found himself smirking at her reply. "So you said, but from where I was standing, you looked to be in pretty deep trouble." He couldn't help but notice why she'd caught the two Neanderthals' attention. The woman had curves in all the right places and a smile that was sly enough to catch any man's attention.

"Well, I'm not anymore, so you can get out of here, Mister Soldier," she said and started to push past him. Ben, however, quickly grabbed her arm.

"At least tell me your name," he said, meeting her eyes. The woman let out a tinkling laugh and easily extricated herself from his hold.

"Now, now. I'm not about to give away my name to strange men. Who knows what you might want from a poor girl like me." She tossed a wink over her shoulder as she sauntered away. Ben could probably have caught up to her if he wanted, but he was enjoying watching her walk away.

"The name's Ben Finn," he called after her when he managed to find his voice. "Least you can say is thank you!"

"Thank you, Mister Finn!" she called back, still smiling that dangerous smile of hers. "You're still not getting my name!"

Ben watched as she disappeared around the corner, a smirk still etched onto his face. He had no doubt that he would run into the mysterious blonde sometime later. After all, few ladies could resist his charm.

Feeling particularly pleased with himself, he headed in the direction of the Riveter to get ready for the party that night.

_oOoOoOo_

_Belated happy holiday to all of you lovely readers! I hope you had a wonderful time and a happy New Year ahead!_


	10. An Unexpected Reunion

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or followed this story. Very much appreciated! So sorry for the long delay in updates. Been busy with the new year and new semester, moving into a new apartment (that sadly has no internet) and a fair bit of writer's block. I have an idea where I want to go, but I was struggling with how to get there._

_Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it. _

_Chapter 10 : An unexpected reunion_

"Ben, are you ready?" Celeste knocked on the captain's door with more force than was probably necessary. He hadn't shown up at the gate around the time they'd established and she'd gone to the inn to find him. Finally the captain emerged wearing the server shirt and pants Page had procured somehow. Celeste herself was wearing a simple red dress and apron.

"Sorry for making you wait, Princess. Let us be off then," he said with a smile, even though he looked a bit distracted.

"May I ask why you were late, Captain?" she asked rather sharply as they walked to Millfields. She'd stood waiting for almost an hour according to the sundial and she was more than a tad irritated.

Ben gave a slight shrug and Celeste felt annoyance rear up at him. "I said I was sorry, Princess. Time got away from me. A girl was getting roughed up in the alley and I helped her," Ben said simply, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

Celeste immediately felt an embarrassed wave of heat colouring her face, but she tried to hide it by looking in the opposite direction. Walter was constantly telling her to be more assertive. "I understand, Captain, but I'd appreciate it if you had gotten a message to me earlier," she settled for saying.

The captain let out an irritated sigh. "It's not my job to detail every hour to you, Princess. I made an oath to protect the citizens of Albion and I wasn't about to sit by while something happened. I was late, alright, but we're on our way now," he grit out and they continued their walk in silence, both of them seething slightly.

By the time that they reached the mansion, the party was already in full swing. Ben and Celeste made their way through the throng of people inside. There were so many serving staff that it was actually quite simple to take a tray and enter the ballroom.

"Do you have any idea where to look for the blacksmith?" Celeste whispered to Ben. From what she could see in the ballroom alone, there were more than a few corridors leading to who knew how many rooms.

"Not to sound pedantic, but how about the lower areas? A dungeon is the most likely place to look," Ben snapped back quietly.

Celeste frowned, but forced a smile on her face when one of the partygoers came to take one of the pastries form her tray. As the rather rotund man waddled away, she shot a glare in Ben's direction. "And which way would that be?"

Ben rolled his eyes discreetly at her as if the answer was the simplest thing in the world. "Just follow me, but try not to look as if you're on my tail."

When they were well on their way down a couple of dark corridors, Celeste took a deep breath and pulled Ben to a stop.

"Is something bothering you, Ben? You were the one who asked to come along and you're acting as though I'm the one who's intruding," she rushed out angrily, looking him right in the eye. "Because this might not be important to you, but it sure as hell is important to me."

Ben's frown deepened with every word she spoke until he yanked his arm out of her hold. "Listen, Princess. While you were off saving cats from trees, I was doing things that actually helped people. Don't dare insinuate that I don't care!"

Celeste reeled back slightly at his rough tone before frowning herself. "That isn't what I meant, Ben. I just-I needed to do this on my own and then you barge in on this whole thing and now you're being a…a…the male offspring of a female dog!"

Ben looked at her strangely for a few moments before bursting out laughing. "Did you just try to call me a son of a bitch?" The humour was quickly joined by disbelief. "Why didn't you just come out and say it?"

Celeste felt another wave of embarrassment and she knew she was probably as red as her dress, which coupled with her crimson hair probably meant that she looked like she was on fire. "I've just never had cause to call someone that, alright! You just made me so angry!"

"Well, Princess, I'm sorry that I drove you to such lengths," he said sincerely, smiling widely. Ben's previous mood disappeared seemingly immediately as he clapped her on the shoulder. "Can we talk about this later? We can't exactly waltz around here for too long before we're caught out." He started marching down the hall and she had to dash to catch up.

For some strange reason, Ben knew the mansion well enough to quickly lead her to the dark rooms underground. She made a mental note to ask him about it later.

One of the rooms housed a few cells and sure enough, a man was sitting against the walls, his head on his knees. A chain ran from the shackles around his wrists to the wall above him.

"Hey," Ben called softly. When the man still didn't move, Ben called out a bit louder. "Hey, mate! You alive?"

The man looked up, clearly startled. Almost every inch of his body was covered in dirt and scratches and he looked dead tired. The only clear feature Celeste could make out were his hazel eyes that were almost luminous in the dimly lit room.

"Page sent us," Celeste said gently, nearing the door. "Are you hurt?"

The man stared at her for a moment before speaking. "No," the man replied hoarsely. Even the simple word seemed to cause him excruciating pain.

Ben opened the cell door with a key he'd procured from somewhere and Celeste quickly teleported to the Sanctuary to fetch a water skin.

When she returned to the dank cell, she carefully knelt by the man's side before lifting the skin to his chapped lips. The man drank greedily, but coughed up most of it. The next time, he sipped slowly and looked at her gratefully.

"Thank you," he rasped. His eyes met hers again and they seemed to light up the tiniest bit. "Celeste? Is…is that you?"

Celeste pulled back in surprise and tried to think from where the man would know her. She hadn't been the most social person when she was still living at the castle and she definitely didn't meet him after she left.

_A boy about her age with large hazel eyes peered at her from next to his father. The young princess glanced shyly at him from where she was clutching her mother's hand and the boy carefully returned her careful smile with one of his own._

"Percy?" she asked, the shock evident in her tone. He was the absolute last person she expected to see, especially chained up in some dungeon. "What…what are you doing here?"

A weary smile pulled on his dry lips. "And here I thought this was an organised rescue," he joked weakly. "Do mind letting me down? I arms have been numb for a while now."

"Look, as glad as I am about this seeming reunion, can we hurry this up? We need to get out of here," Ben interrupted, sounding almost irritated.

Celeste was still slightly shell-shocked, but she managed a nod. Both she and Ben tried to pull Percy to his feet as carefully as they could. As they lifted him, Celeste couldn't help but notice how strong his arm muscles had become compared to the skinny twigs they'd been before.

_Well, that happens when you don't see someone for ten years,_ she thought. She couldn't even believe that he'd recognised her.

"I don't think we'll be able to get him out of here without being seen," Ben said, interrupting her thoughts. "Can you do that disappearing thing with more than yourself?"

"I've never tried," she replied. "But we'll see. Just…hold on."

Fortunately, when she finally worked up the courage to open her eyes, they were all standing in the center room of the Sanctuary.

"My lady, who is this?" Jasper asked, concern written on his wrinkled face.

"Let us just let him rest in the dressing room, Jasper," Celeste interrupted quickly. "I think he's alright, he just needs to rest."

They managed to get the almost unconscious prisoner to the chaise lounge and carefully lowered him down.

"Jasper can you get the first aid supplies?"

"Captain Finn, would you mind helping me?" Ben gave a small nod and he and Jasper quickly left the room. Celeste opened her mouth to object to her leaving her alone with Percy, but instead started to carefully check for major injuries, all the way ignoring Percy's searching gaze. She could feel the blush already creeping up her neck due to his scrutiny.

"Is there any place in particular that's hurt?" she asked when her search came up clean. Ben and Jasper had returned by this time so she brought herself to meet his gaze.

"Nothing life-threatening," he answered wearily. His eyes looked to be getting heavy and they fluttered a few times. "Just…tired…"

Jasper gently pushed the princess out of the way and pulled out a rag and a small bottle that she recognised as antiseptic. Celeste had noticed that while Percy was mostly fine, his wrists had been chafed raw from the shackles.

"Jasper's extremely good with treating injuries," she said with a gentle smile. "He's had plenty of practice. I have a tendency to run into…dangerous situations."

Percy looked significantly more awake at her words. "You?" he asked, his tone riddled with disbelief.

"Is it that unbelievable?" she asked and crossed her arms and frowned playfully at him. "I don't know how long you were locked up, but I am Albion's new Hero, mister."

"Celeste, the last time I saw you, you weren't even allowed to wear trousers, let alone be part of any "dangerous situations." His retort was cut off when he winced at the touch of the antiseptic. "I thought you said he was good!"

"Please stop squirming, sir," Jasper said as he calmly continued to clean the damaged skin. "It'll be done in a few minutes."

"If you don't mind me asking...Where do you two know each other from?" It was unusual for Ben to be so quiet and Celeste had almost forgotten that he was there. He was still frowning slightly and his arms were crossed defensively in front of his chest. "All we know about this man is that he's Page's blacksmith. Are you some kind of prince in disguise or something? Because I can't imagine how a girl who was so sheltered growing up as her would know a blacksmith."

"My father forged most of the castle steel when her mother was queen and I'd go along to deliver his products. Shortly after her death…The king commissioned someone else and I didn't go to the castle again." Percy shot a glance in Celeste's direction and she felt another damnable flush colouring her face. She appreciated the fact that Percy didn't tell Ben the whole story. Up until he brought it up, Celeste had almost forgotten why they hadn't seen each other in so long.

Jasper finished the rest of his treatment in silence and soon the former captive's wrists were cleaned and bound with fresh bandages. Percy nodded off a few moments after answering Ben's question and the others left him in peace.

"I didn't know Mister Percival was still in Bowerstone," Jasper said when they were back in the central room. "Why didn't you tell me, my lady?"

"I didn't know until today." Celeste sank down onto one of the couches. "I was just as shocked to see him again."

Ben glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, still frowning slightly. "Can we trust him? Page might have used his services, but he was quite unharmed for someone who was captured."

"As he mentioned, I haven't seen him in years. The last time we…spoke…was a couple of years after my mother's death. But he was a sweet boy then and his father was a loyal and hardworking man." Celeste ran her fingers through her hair. "I want to believe that we can trust him."

Ben's frown lessened the tiniest bit. "Very well, Princess. I'm going to trust you on this, but it's not my fault if you find yourself locked up somewhere."

"What has gotten into you, Ben?" Celeste asked almost exasperatedly. Jasper seemingly caught the hint that there was an argument brewing between the two rebels and he casually slipped away to his room. "You've been in some sort of mood ever since we left Industrial."

"I was actually having a fine day until you knocked on my door, sweetheart. All you keep reminding me about today is how bloody naïve you are! How are you still alive after all this time?" Ben sat down on the armchair's arm rest and absentmindedly fiddled with a stray thread on the servant's uniform while looking at some point above her head.

"I keep forgetting you're actually twenty two-years old. You seem so damn young! A part of me is glad that with the way you grew up that you turned out so sweet compared to your crazy brother, but I keep expecting you to turn up dead with the way you keep trusting everyone you meet and the way you just…waltz around wielding your skinny sword and sparkly magic like some bloody fairy. Mercenaries, turncoats, rebels…Hell, I turned my back on the crown myself. I'm not telling you not to trust anyone, but I just…"

His blue eyes met her own dark ones and he let out an audible sigh. "Just be careful, alright? The world out there…it's rough. I don't want to see you getting hurt before getting that crown. Besides, Walter will have my head if something happened to you."

Celeste felt her heart soften at his words. In his own irritating way he actually cared about her and what happened to her. "Thank you, Ben. I truly appreciate it." She smiled shyly up at him and he returned it with a smirk of his own.

"Good." He got to his feet and cleared his throat awkwardly. "That couch looks more inviting than my bed at the headquarters, so I'm going to take a nap." He ruffled her hair affectionately and laughed loudly at the glare she shot him while she yanked her fingers through her now mussed hair.

"Arse," she muttered and he burst out laughing again.

"I heard that, Princess. We're making progress," he chuckled and turned towards the wall on the couch. "Soon you'll actually be able to call me a son of a bitch to my face."

Celeste rolled her eyes good-naturedly before turning over for a nap of her own, a smile on her lips.

oOoOoOo

_Sorry for the short chapter. I really wanted to get something out to you guys this weekend before I return to the craziness of real life. _

_I hope you enjoyed it and please let me know what you think!_


	11. Getting to know you

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or followed this story. Very much appreciated! _

_Again, I am so sorry for the long delay in updates. I had very little time these few weeks to get to writing. To make up for it, here's a long chapter for y'all!_

_Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it. _

_Chapter 11_

Celeste woke up after what felt like only a few minutes. Ben was still snoring on the couch and Jasper was nowhere to be seen. With a stifled yawn, she got to her feet and crept to the room where their unconscious guest was lying.

Celeste took a seat on one of the chairs as she studied her old friend. He'd certainly changed a lot since they last saw each other. His muscled arms were crossed over his chest even while he was sleeping and she couldn't help but notice how much he had filled out. Even though she still thought of him as a friend, she couldn't deny how handsome his face had become. The only thing that was still the same were the warm hazel eyes she knew were behind his closed lids.

Another yawn slipped past her lips and she curled her legs up against her chest. She closed her eyes, only intending to do so for a minute, but she quickly fell into another deep bout of sleep.

oOoOoOo

When Percy woke up, he was aware of almost every bone in his body practically screaming at him. He turned over to find a more comfortable position, but no matter how he maneuvered, something ended up hurting.

He gave up on sleep and opened his eyes to see Celeste sitting on one of the seats, fast asleep. She looked so relaxed that she seemed ages younger than she actually was. As he gazed upon her sleeping form, he couldn't help but remember her as she'd been years ago.

_Ten year old Percy hid partially behind his father as he spoke with the stern looking king. He tried to avoid making eye contact with their monarch by taking in the decorations of the enormous foyer. Their entire house would have fit in that one room._

_His father's words were cut off when a girl who was about his age bounded into the room, a Labrador puppy who was almost as big a she was in her arms. Percy recognised her as the girl who had smiled at him the last time they were here._

"_Daddy, can I go play in the garden with Artemis?" she asked and tugged on her father's sleeve._

_Percy flinched for the girl's part when the king turned his furious gaze onto her. The girl pulled back slightly and clutched her puppy to her chest, her expression about as terrified as he felt. _

"_I told you to stay in your room, girl! Don't bother me when I'm busy!" he snapped, wrenching his sleeve out of her tiny hand. "And get that stupid mutt out of here!"_

_The girl's big blue eyes filled with tears, but she hurriedly blinked them away as she lowered her head. _

"_Yes, Daddy," came her whispered reply and she moved to take a step back. At that moment her eyes met his and she managed a watery smile._

"_I don't think Percy would mind if you showed him your dog. He loves puppies, don't you Percy?" His father's words were accompanied by a nudge with his leg. "We're going to be busy for a while."_

_King George barely tossed a second glance at the two children as he waved them away. The girl glanced at him shyly and the pup gave a happy bark as she tried to struggle out of her grasp to greet the newcomer. He followed her in silence to the huge gardens outside._

_He stood in amazement at the sheer amount of green around him. In Industrial they barely got as much as a weed springing up._

"_I'm Celeste," the girl said quietly, still clutching the squirming pup. "And this is Artemis. Can she say hello?"_

_Percy nodded wordlessly as Celeste lowered the Lab to the ground. Her paws were barely on the ground before she shot in his direction, almost toppling his skinny frame over onto the grass._

"_Artemis, calm down." Despite the girl's soft voice, the pup fell onto her rear and looked at her expectantly. "Good girl," she said and offered the dog a treat from the bag tied around her waist. _

"_I'm Percy," he managed, running his dirty fingers through his hair. His father had taught him to shake hands, but Percy couldn't even imagine touching the tiny girl in her pristine light blue dress with his soiled hands._

_The princess looked almost exactly like the porcelain doll his mother kept in their display case and told him never to touch. She had the biggest dark blue eyes he'd ever seen and her thick red hair fell in loose curls to the middle of her back. Her pale face and tiny body seemed as if they would break if she so much as fell over._

"_Your dad is scary," he blurted out when he realised they were standing in complete silence and he was staring at her._

_Celeste glanced at her satin slippers. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have bothered him," she whispered and tugged at her dress. "I was being silly."_

_The girl looked as if she was going to start crying again, so he decided to intervene. "My mother is a lot scarier than your father. I once broke one of her plates and I couldn't sit for a week," he said, gesturing wildly with his hands._

_Celeste managed another shy smile and, to his surprise, she took his hand in hers. _

"_Do you want to come to the kitchen? They made lemon cakes today," she said, her eyes brightening considerably as she tugged on his hand. _

_To his even bigger surprise, he let the tiny girl lead him to the kitchen, not even considering the fact that he was holding hands with a girl._

Celeste stirred slightly in her chair, a faint smile on her lips. Percy couldn't help his own smile at her sleeping form. Surprised didn't even begin to describe how he felt when she turned up in that cell. He surmised that Page would eventually send someone after him, but he didn't expect the princess.

Even though he was furious with his uncle for tricking him by pretending to support their cause (and himself for allowing him to get fooled into getting caught), he owed him a certain amount of gratitude. The man was an arse, but at least he didn't hand him over to Logan. At least not immediately.

Percy's uncle had been one of the men to climb social ladders when King George became king. As a very ambitious man who craved social status he didn't possess as a simple blacksmith's son, he did a few unmentionable favours for the tyrant king and earned a title out of the deal. Percy's own father, who worked as in the shop his grandfather started, was furious with his brother and didn't speak to him after that.

That might have been enough to stop other people from instantly trusting the man, but Percy had always wanted to believe the best about people. This wasn't the first time it didn't exactly work out.

He was still mulling over his thoughts when he caught Celeste's eyes fluttering open.

"Percy?" she asked hoarsely, rubbing her eyes. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Can't," he replied, struggling to sit up. "You can go back to sleep."

The redhead straightened her dress as she got to her feet. "No, I should be getting up. How are you?"

"Fine." His words were contradicted by the flinch when he shifted his body too far. Celeste rushed to his side, her eyes filled with concern.

"Where does it hurt?" Her hands carefully hovered above his body as she met his gaze. He couldn't help but notice the faint blush against her pale skin.

"It's nothing," he insisted, resting his head against the arm rest. "Don't worry, Princess."

She sat back into the chair, seemingly struggling what to say. "How's your father?" she asked finally.

A sudden wave of discomfort washed over him and Percy looked away. "He…died a few years ago."

Her eyes widened at his words. "I'm so sorry," she said sincerely. "I…I hadn't heard."

He shrugged as far as he could. "How could you have? It was after…you know."

"He was a good man. I'm sorry."

"Sorry about your father as well," he said after a moment of silence and a small smile appeared on her lips.

"No, you're not. Very few people mourned his death, but I appreciate the sentiment."

Percy smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Is Artemis still around? I doubt she'll remember me, but-"

"She's gone," she interrupted quickly, lowering her gaze. "My father had her…put down…when I was about fifteen."

"Was she sick?"

Celeste hesitated for a moment before answering. "No. She…bit him and he…"

"She bit him?" Percy couldn't believe the sweet Labrador would have hurt anyone.

She looked down at her hands. "Um…You know my father could get quite angry…and he…he tried to hit me and Artemis bit him," she said quietly, still not looking at him.

He felt a wave of anger rush up inside him at her confession. He never liked her father, but he couldn't believe that he would lay a hand on his daughter.

"I'm sorry, Celeste," Percy said and reached out to place a hand on hers. "I know you loved her."

Celeste continued to stare at their touching hands for a moment more before meeting his gaze. "Thank you." The tiniest of smiles appeared on her face. "Logan got me a new puppy for my eighteenth birthday. I'm sure he'd love to meet you. He's an even bigger sweetheart than Artemis was."

"I'd love to meet him." Percy saw anther blush colour her features when her eyes darted to their hands and he pulled away as if burnt. He hadn't even noticed that his hand was still there. "Um…I'm sure Page is wondering where we are."

Celeste sprung to her feet with her hands now behind her back. "Very well. I'll go check if Ben is awake and then we can get back to the hideout."

"Celeste, wait." The princess turned at the sound of his voice, the blush still present. "I…wanted to say thank you for coming to get me."

A sweet smile appeared on her lips and she looked at the ground. "You already thanked me, Percy. Besides, I couldn't refuse to help someone in trouble." She looked up, still smiling. "For what it's worth, I'm happy that you are still well."

"It's good to see you again as well, Celeste."

She nodded again before leaving the room and Percy settled back into the couch.

oOoOoOo

When they reached the hideout, it was early morning. Percy was quickly led away by Page for a debriefing without as much as a thank you. Celeste argued that he wasn't well enough, but Page was not the sort of woman to be told that she should wait.

Ben attended to a few matters for the rest of the day and returned to the hideout for some much deserved rest.

Unfortunately, Ben quickly found himself wandering aimlessly around the sewers. It wasn't that he was lost, it was just that Page wasn't very good or specific with giving directions, especially when the person she was giving them to was a soldier that sort of irritated her.

"Turn left at the moss covered rock...In a sewer...Thanks a lot, Page," he muttered as he turned left for what seemed like to be the seventh time. For variety's sake, he took a right turn for once at the next fork and promptly ended up where he was fifteen minutes ago.

Now he would admit to being slightly lost. But only slightly.

He was busy considering yelling until someone answered him when he heard a strange sniffling noise in the adjacent corridor.

At first, he thought it might be a rat or something equally disgusting scurrying about, but when the noise suddenly increased in volume, it was clear that someone was crying.

"Hello?" he called tentatively, moving in the direction of the noise. "Are you alright?"

Suddenly the noise was replaced with a loud sniff and a hiccup. "I'm fine," a female voice replied, shaking with emotion. "I..."

When he found the woman in question, he was startled to see the princess sitting on one of the relatively clean rocks, her clothes wet and her eyes ringed with red. Tear tracks ran down her sooty face and left telling signs that she had been crying for a while.

"Princess? What's wrong?" He took a hesitant movement towards her and her eyes widened in what resembled horror.

She scrubbed furiously at her wet eyes and took another loud sniff. "Captain Finn...I didn't think anyone would find me down here," she said, her voice still audibly shaking.

"To tell you the truth, love, I didn't think that I'd be down here either. I thought I'd have found the base by now, but it seems that Page doesn't want me to find it," he joked and sat down next to her. She was shivering from what he guessed was her damp clothes and he quickly took off his vest to drape it over her shoulders. It wasn't much, but she immediately pulled it tightly against her slight body.

"Thank you," she whispered, clearly avoiding his gaze. "I'm...sorry you had to see me like this."

"Why **are** you like this? What happened?" He'd come to care for the princess in the short span of time that he'd known her and he didn't like seeing her upset.

"I...don't want to talk about it," she said quietly. She'd mercifully stopped shaking.

Despite her words, Ben was, if nothing else, rather persistent. "Those tears tell a different tale, Celeste."

He barely caught the hooded look that she shot him and she let out a sigh mixed with a wry laugh. "I found out that the man that I was supposed to marry got engaged while I was away."

"You were engaged?!" Ben nearly shouted, unable to hide the shock in his voice.

This time he couldn't miss the slightly amused look on her face. "I am in my twenties, Ben. A lot of women my age already have their second or third child."

"I..." How could he phrase his answer without sounding like an arse? _I had no idea there was someone waiting in the wings for her…_

"I'm just surprised," he settled for saying. "You never mentioned him, is all."

"I don't know why I'm upset...I didn't love him, at least not in the way that a wife is supposed to love her husband, but he was always so smitten with me." She fiddled with the buttons on his vest. "I guess it was nice to know that someone loved me that much. Besides, it wasn't like there was anyone else vying for my attention."

Ben couldn't help the loud scoffing noise that sounded in his throat and he was met with a confused look. "Now you're just pulling my leg. I don't know what happened between you and a certain blacksmith, but he looks positively smitten with you."

A light blush washed over her face and his vest buttons became infinitely more interesting than looking at him. "You're imagining things. Percy's just a friend and that's all he's ever been to me. I'm being serious."

"As am I, love, but back to this betrothed of yours."

"My father had arranged for us to be wed before I had even reached my fifth birthday. Elliot is the son of a rather minor noble, but our fathers were good friends. My father was doing his an enormous favour by allowing his son to marry into the royal family and my father stood to make more than a few thousand gold by the shares that he would get in a mine or something. I remember that my mother objected rather strongly to the arrangement. They fought about it so many times. I remember her telling my father that he was taking away my right to fall in love on my own. He said that my only and most important duty as his daughter was to marry well and carry on the line. Certainly shows the differences in classes, doesn't it?"

She continued to fiddle with her hands. "She was always so adamant about choosing for myself. I know now that my parents married out of a convenient match." She chuckled wryly. "To be honest, it was more than that. She was the new queen, but she was still a commoner who grew up on the streets and she considered marring a noble to gain the upper-class support. My father was handsome and charming and my mother…wasn't the most discreet woman. Before they finalised anything, she fell pregnant out of wedlock and they were forced to marry to save them both from a rather embarrassing scandal. It was during that time that my mother realised that she did not love my father as she thought she had. It had merely been a bout of lust."

She seemed to mull over her words before she spoke next. "She lost the baby after a few months, but the damage was already done. She was caught in a loveless marriage to a man that she hated. Divorce would be too scandalous, so she was forced to stay." A flush of embarrassment washed over her features and she lowered her voice. "However, this didn't stop her from certain indiscretions, as I'm hesitant to admit."

"I only learned all of this after her death when I read her diary. They always seemed as if they tolerated each other, but looking back...there was a lot of things that a young girl could misinterpret. At the end, they didn't even sleep in the same bed anymore."

Ben couldn't help but think of his own parents. They'd had many problems what with the constant shortage of money, his father's occasional drinking and his mother's exhaustion with trying to manage four rowdy boys, but there were a few happy memories. There was no doubt in his mind that his parent truly did love each other.

"But enough about that. Elliot was sweet, kind and gentle. He became my only friend growing up, after…after Percy and I had our…miscommunication, but to his immense dismay, I never felt more than that towards him."

A strange smile split over her lips. "He tried so hard to get me to love him. Out of pure guilt, I even allowed him to kiss me, but despite the flowers and the romantic gestures, never more than that."

"So you never...?" Ben trailed off with a meaningful raise of his eyebrow.

Her midnight blue eyes became as round as saucers. "No!" Then she smiled that strange, enigmatic smile of hers again. "Though he certainly wanted to. Avo only knows how much he wanted to. The only thing that kept him from going mad was probably that in the end, he would marry me."

"You have to understand, Elliot was like a brother to me. The thought of what was to happen on our wedding night..." A tiny shiver ran down her spine and Ben knew it wasn't from the cold. "I would have learned to love him and I knew he would have been a good husband and father, but being the reader of one too many novels, I dreamed of falling in love with some handsome stranger that would whisk me away from my "duty" as the daughter of the queen."

"Silly, I know," she almost whispered, her face suddenly wistful.

"It's not," Ben said equally quiet as he placed a comforting hand on hers and she looked at him with eyes filled with unshed tears. "You were perfectly justified in wanting something more than what sounds like a rather depressing future. What I don't understand is why you're crying over a man that you didn't want to marry in the first place."

"It's funny, I know. I don't know if someone told you about the choice my brother had me make?"

He shook his head and she continued, her voice now much heavier than before. "There was a demonstration...Long story short, the guards captured the ringleaders and Walter tried to convince Logan to listen to them. Elliot and I were listening at the door...and I burst in when I heard Walter being struck down. Logan...ordered us to be taken to the throne room where he ordered me to choose between saving the ringleaders...or Elliot. The choice that I made is pretty clear."

"I know, I could have let Elliot die that day and I could have been free. I think the only reason that I choose to let Elliot live was because it was so ingrained in me that he was to be my husband that I couldn't let him die and I kept hearing my father's voice telling me to do my duty as his daughter. Aside from that, he was still my best friend and I did love him like a brother. He begged me to choose him to die...but I couldn't."

A wry bark of a laugh sounded from her. "He hated me for choosing him over those villagers. He's alive with a new fiancé who actually loves him, but he still told me that he'd hated me for choosing the villagers over him and wished that I'd chosen him to die. It seems that he thought it better to be a martyr than actually happy for once."

Ben felt a stab of anger at the man that did this to the princess and his hand clenched involuntarily.

"But then...he asked me to give him another chance. He begged me to take him back and I considered it for a moment. I could marry Elliot who loves me dearly and do my father's memory proud. Besides, what were the chances of me finding someone who loved me like he did? I was being silly for thinking that I deserved better than Elliot. But then I realised that I was hearing my father's voice and that I let four people die for a man that hated me for saving him. Besides, it would be unfair to Elliot and his new fiancé. Linda loves him and he loves her. So I left him there and came here to cry." She looked at him through damp eyelashes. "You must think that I'm a horrible person."

"I don't." And he truly didn't. "I think that your future has been so controlled by others that you had no choice but to do what you'd been taught to do. No offence, love, but from what I hear, I think your father was manipulative and cruel for doing what he did to you."

"He...I know," she admitted after a moment of silence. "He was the only father I ever had and I've tried defending him, but in the end, he forced me into a marriage that I didn't want and every time that I would ask him about it, he would tell me that something was wrong with me for doubting the match."

They sat in companionable silence for a while before Celeste finally spoke. "Ben?" He looked at her. "Could you please not tell anyone about this?"

"Of course. But not without something in return, though," he said with a wink.

"What?"

"Help me out of this damn sewer."


	12. Sewer Interlude

_AN: Thank you to all who has reviewed, read, favourited or followed this story. Very much appreciated! _

_I am so, SO sorry for taking so long to update. Seems the world is conspiring against me these days…First my hard drive crashed, then I had a series of huge tests and, finally, my previously reliable laptop decided to break. Hopefully things'll work out from here on out :)_

_Disclaimer : I do not own the Fable universe or the characters contained within it. _

_Chapter 12 : Recollections _

Celeste trudged through the sewers for what felt like the fourth time that day. She'd been running back and forth to complete errands for Page. Frankly, she was getting sick of it, but it seemed that Page was finally warming up to her. Well, as much as the stoic leader was capable of warming up. "Tolerate" was probably a better word for what was happening.

On her way to the back of the damp hideout, she ran into a certain blacksmith that she may or may not have been avoiding.

"Hello," she said, blushing. "I haven't seen you in a while."

Percy smiled shyly in reply and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "How are you, Princess?"

"I'm doing well. Has Page put you back to work already?"

He rolled his muscled shoulders as he sighed. "Yes. I'm barely back on my feet and she's expecting me to forge like there is no tomorrow."

She looked down at her booted feet, smiling. "Well, good luck. She's expecting a few errands for me as well and I have to get back to work."

"Good luck to you as well, Princess."

Celeste gave a small nod in acknowledgement before turning on her heel to head back on her intended course.

"Celeste." Percy's voice caused her to turn her head and she looked at him expectedly. "You'll tell me if you need help, right?"

"Of course. But I'm more than capable of taking care of myself," she replied, still smiling.

"Sure. I'll see you around," Percy said, clearing his throat nervously.

Celeste barely managed to get a good-bye out before Percy practically bolted away. Slightly confused, she absentmindedly fiddled with her Guild Seal before going to Page's war room.

oOoOoOo

Percy hurried back to his forge, hoping anyone who saw him would attribute the blush to the heat and not embarrassment.

He cursed himself silently. For some absurd reason, he couldn't help but get flustered when he saw Celeste. Dear Avo, he'd thought he'd gotten over her. He hadn't seen her for ten years. What had been a schoolboy crush all those years had unknowingly turned into something much more.

_Percy felt himself getting annoyed by his father. He and the king had been talking for what seemed like forever. _

_Percy had bothered his father to go to the castle for what seemed like weeks since he'd last seen his friend around his thirteenth birthday. His dirty hand slipped inside his frayed pocket to finger the smooth contours of the stone hidden there. Celeste's own birthday was a few weeks away and he didn't know when he'd get to see her again._

_The moment he saw the stone on the floor of the forge, he'd immediately thought of her. The dark blue, almost black surface reminded him of her eyes and when he held it up to the light he could almost see more colours sparkling within its depths. _

_On some level, he was embarrassed by his gift. He'd wanted to get her one of those lovely leather-bound books in the market's windows, but he didn't have any money. He could only hope she'd like the stone as much as he hoped she would._

_Although he was only thirteen, he was aware that what he felt towards Celeste was more than friendship. His mother had told him that if he liked her, he should tell her, but he couldn't help but feel even more aware of his scuffed shoes, shaggy hair and too short trousers when he was around her. Some part of him knew that she didn't care about that, but the fact that she lived in a splendid castle didn't help his nervousness. _

_After what seemed like an eternity, he was told to go to the garden. He almost tripped over his feet as he dashed outside. Sure enough, he found the princess sitting on one of the benches, her nose deep in a book that was almost as big as she was._

_He nervously fiddled with the stone as he worked up the courage to talk to her. _"Come on, Percy…You're not too scared to talk to a girl, are you?_" he told himself harshly._

_Just when he got himself to the point where he could move his feet, Celeste looked up from her book and her eyes met his. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to her._

"_Hello," he said, looking at his feet. Percy was completely unprepared when Celeste launched herself off of the bench to wrap her skinny arms around him. When she pulled away, she looked about as flustered as he felt._

"_Sorry," she apologised, blushing. "It's just that I haven't seen you in the longest time."_

"_It's not a problem, Princess." He pointed to the abandoned book on the bench in an attempt to gain some time to work up more courage. "You finished the other one?"_

"_Mm-hm," she nodded enthusiastically. One thing he'd learned about Celeste was that though she was shy, the easiest way to get her talking was to mention books. _

_Celeste barely gave him time to sit down before she started rambling on. He couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. It was one of the things he liked most about her. He was so enthralled by the way her eyes were lighting up as she waved her hands in narration, that he found himself leaning towards her before he could stop himself. It felt as if time slowed down as his lips neared hers and just when they were about to meet, he heard someone yelling in the background._

"_You've insulted this maiden's honour!" a skinny boy yelled as he flung his fist at Percy's face. Percy was used to rough-housing with his friends, so the only reason he was sent flying off of the bench was the element of surprise that the boy had. _

_Percy jumped to his feet and his fist reflexively went toward the other boy's face. He immediately regretted his actions when he caught sight of Celeste's face. Her blue eyes were wide with obvious horror and he felt ashamed by his actions. If he was trying to prove to her that he wasn't an absolute hooligan, he'd failed miserably._

_Ashamed and face red with embarrassment, he ran towards the gate without another word to wait for his father._

Out of shame, he never returned to the castle after that. He'd thought that he'd get over his infatuation and he'd truly thought he'd did so until he saw her again.

Percy was so involved in his work with their newfound steel that he didn't even realise that someone else was in the room with him until he cleared his throat.

"Hello," Captain Finn said gruffly, sticking his hand into his pockets. "Page sent me to check the progress on the swords."

"Well, I only started this morning. Tell her to give me some more time," he snapped, barely looking up at his visitor.

Ben looked slightly taken aback by his tone, but just shrugged in reply. "Sure thing. Any reason to talk with the lovely Miss Page."

To Percy's annoyance, the captain didn't seem to make any move towards leaving. "Anything else, Captain?" he said exasperatedly.

Captain Finn leaned against one of the barrels, seemingly deep in thought. "I was just curious…What happened between you and our esteemed soon to be queen? There seems to be some history there."

"If she didn't tell you, it's not my place to do so."

"I didn't ask her. I'm just having a conversation with our newest partner in crime here in the sewers," Ben said with a shrug.

"Well, frankly, I don't think it has anything to do with you, Captain."

Ben threw up his hands in defence. "Fine then. I'll go ask her."

"I tried to kiss her," Percy blurted out. The last thing he wanted was for the captain to remind Celeste of what happened. "Some boy came up and punched me."

"He chased you off?" Ben looked almost too entertained from his smirk and Percy felt a frown pull at his brow.

"No. I returned the blow, but…I think I scared Celeste. So I left."

Ben's eyebrow almost went into his fringe at these words. "That's what happened? That's why you didn't see each other for so long? That's…ridiculous. Most women I know absolutely love it when men fight over them."

"Well, then you don't know Celeste very well," he muttered. "She's a soft-hearted girl. For Avo's sake, she gets upset when someone yells **near** her, even when it's not at her. She wasn't just going to…get over me hitting someone in front of her."

"Well, pal, to be frank, I think you're the one who doesn't know her anymore. You haven't seen her in, what, ten years? I've seen her cleave a man's skull in two. She's even gotten into a shouting match with me."

"Really? That's…great actually." Percy didn't exactly know why he was opening up to a man who was practically a stranger, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "When I heard that she was intending to take the throne, I was scared for her. The girl I knew couldn't even stand up to her father, let alone rule a whole country."

"Yes, well I doubt if she's quite there yet, but maybe one day," Ben said gruffly, a slight frown on his face. "Well, if that's all…"

"Um…yeah," Percy said awkwardly, rubbing his neck. "See you around, Captain."

Ben sauntered off with a grunt and Percy couldn't help but feel better that he might not have ruined his chances after all. Even all these years later, he still had that stone hidden in his pack. Maybe it was time to give it to her after all.

Percy continued working for the rest of the day, slightly distracted by what he'd say. By the time he'd reigned in his thoughts, it was already early evening. He made his way to the room that functioned as a makeshift bathhouse to get rid of some of the sweat and walked solidly into another person.

"Sorry!" the boy spluttered, his blue eyes wide. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Percy narrowed his eyes at the strange boy. Something was very familiar about him, but he couldn't figure out what it was. "Do I know you?"

"N-no," he stammered and thrust out his hand. "I'm Thomas. Walter's son."

"Oh." Percy was aware that he was still frowning as he tried to place his face as they shook hands. "I'm Percy. Are you sure-"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," the boy rushed out, looking at his boot-clad feet.

Suddenly Percy saw an opportunity to further his chances with the princess. "So…If you're Walter's son, you know Celeste, right?"

"Um…yes?"

_Seems this isn't going to be so easy after all,_ he thought to himself, sighing inwardly. "Has she, perhaps, mentioned me? At all?" he managed to ask, almost tripping over his words.

The boy's eyes widened unnaturally wide. "Um…maybe? I'm not completely sure…"

Percy didn't think that one person could stammer as much as the boy in front of him.

"Why do you ask?" The question came so softly that Percy had to struggle to hear it.

"Because…" He nervously rubbed the back of his neck again. Maybe this had been a mistake. "Well…a few years ago…I think…No, I know that I made a mistake and I just wanted to know if she….mentioned it to you."

Thomas blushed bright red again. "She didn't, but why do you want to know if she mentioned it?"

"Because…I want to apologise," he admitted. "It's been years, but I guess you can say that it's been haunting me."

The tiniest smile appeared on the boy's face. "If I see her…I'll tell her, if you want?"

Percy shook his head empathetically, a sudden wave of embarrassment washed over him. "No, no. There's no need for that. I'll need to tell her eventually. Sorry for keeping you."

"Oh…sure. Good luck!"

The boy sprinted off without another word and Percy shook his head at the skittish boy before heading for a well-deserved bath.

oOoOoOo

"Thomas!"

Celeste whirled around at the sound of the sharp bark behind her. "Yes, Walter?"

Walter's brow furrowed as he seemed to struggle to remember what he wanted to say. "Have you seen that lazy dog Ben somewhere?"

"No, not recently. I'll tell him that you're looking for him if I see him?"

"Don't worry about it. It's actually Swift who's looking for him. I was looking for you as well. That lad at the forge looks familiar."

Celeste scratched absently at the beard on her face as she felt a blush creep up her neck. She just stopped herself from smiling like a fool at the memory of their earlier conversation. "Um...That's Percy. His father used to make the castle's weapons."

"The one who tried to kiss you?" Walter's thick eyebrows almost rose into his fringe and Celeste shot him a look at his loud exclamation. "Where did he crop up from?"

"I was just as surprised to see him," she said lowly, thankful that no one was around. "I didn't know he was still in Industrial. But…I'm very glad to see him again. He's a good man to have on our side."

"I had heard his father had passed away, but nothing about the lad after that." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Interesting how things turn out, hm?"

Her good mood disappeared almost instantly when she remembered the past few days. "If you say so, Walter. I just find it exhausting to keep running into...people."

"Elliot stop by again?"

Celeste sighed loudly at the memory of her former betrothed showing up at the Riveter's Rest. "No, not today. Thank Avo."

"He better steer clear of me," Walter growled, his scowl deepening even further. "I'll kill that boy if I run across him."

A faint smile played on her lips. "I'm sure he's aware of that fact, Walter. Now...if there is anything else?"

"Ah, no. You get back to what you were doing."

She bit back a laugh as Walter wandered away, no doubt on his way to the pub to "talk strategy" with Major Swift."

Celeste was still laughing to herself when she wandered into the aforementioned Major.

"Oh, hello, Sir. I thought Walter was meeting with you."

Major Swift chuckled to himself. "No, though I'm sure he's already getting started for both of us."

"No doubt. I haven't seen Ben, if you are still looking for him."

"It's not serious. What are you up to today, Thomas?"

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Oh, what I do most of these days. Running errands for our esteemed rebel leader." Celeste smiled sheepishly at her words. "I apologize. It's just rather...annoying...that she isn't trusting me yet."

"If it makes you feel any better, she's not exactly tolerant of our presence down here, either, my dear. Ben isn't exactly helping the matter," he said with a knowing smile.

"He's still chasing after her?"

"Yes. Ben isn't exactly used to being rejected."

"Well, I'd love to continue chatting, Major, but unfortunately I have things to do," she said, truly apologetic. She always enjoyed speaking with the Major and she rarely got the chance to relax these days.

"Of course. Ï'll see you around, my dear." Major Swift signed off a curt salute which she returned with a bright smile.

Now in an infinitely better mood, Celeste set out to complete the menial tasks Page had laid out ahead for her.


End file.
